The Daughter of Ipswich
by gracie-mae
Summary: The twin of the youngest Son of Ipswich returns after two years. With a bit of baggage and a lot of unsolved feelings. PogueOCCaleb. First story, be gentle. T for swearing.
1. Welcome Home, Baby Girl

**A/N:** Ok, so trying out a story for the very first time. Be kind, heh. Don't own anything, 'cept the obvious OC. And the chorus in italics is from Alice Cooper's "Poison", which I also don't own. Enjoy.

Chapter One:

Welcome Home, Baby Girl

Everyone knew not to play that song on the jukebox in Nicky's. In fact, Pogue Parry demanded it. Nobody was to push "F8." That song.. Well, let's just say it's a song that Pogue associates with one person.

But that one person was no longer at Spenser Academy, the rightful place for her. No, she had to move halfway thru freshman year. Some suspected the reasoning; only a handful, which included his best friends Caleb, Reid, and the girl's twin brother, Tyler, knew the real reason.

After she left, Pogue asked Nicky to take it out of the jukebox. Claiming it would be too much of a hassle, Nicky let it be. Until Pogue started threatening and fighting anyone who dared to play that song in his presence. Nicky wisely amended his objection, putting a piece of black tape over the song's title, so nobody played it.

And it had worked. For almost three years, Pogue hadn't heard the song. At least, not in Nicky's bar. From time to time, while sitting by himself in his apartment, he listened to it.

But he managed to escape the song while out with his friends and his girlfriend, Kate Tunney. That is, until this particular night.

It was a miracle he could even hear the music over the chatter of Ipswich residents and Spenser Academy classmates. The bar was packed on the Friday night. He was talking to Kate about plans to go to Boston the next morning, when he picked up the chorus

"_I wanna love you, but I better not touch. _

_I wanna hold you but my senses tell me to stop. _

_I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much. _

_I wanna taste you but your lips are filled with poison. _

_You're poison running through my veins_.."

Instantly, his eyes flew towards the jukebox, wondering who the hell would be that brave. Everybody forgot about whatever song title was underneath the tape a long time ago and moved on to the wide selection.

He noticed a small blonde dancing by herself next to it, her back towards him. She swayed carelessly to the beat, letting her long blonde fly around her. Everyone else at the table noticed Pogue's reaction and also watched the girl, asking among themselves who would be that brave. Or that stupid.

He stalked over to the girl, pulling her arm to face him. His light brown eyes met bright green ones. Only one person in the world could have those eyes..

"What're you doing here?" he winced; his voice sounded harsher than intended.

She just scoffed at him; "Wow. What a nice homecoming. Good to see you too, Pogue."

A smirk graced her lips. Lips he knew a bit too well.

He cleared his throat.

"You moved back?" he asked, still not letting go of her arm.

"Yeah. Got sick of California. I'm back as of today. Start again Monday," she filled in, not caring that he was still holding onto his arm.

Like only she could, she smiled at him and his insides turned to mush.

Before he could question anything, the two found themselves surrounded by the rest of the Sons of Ipswich.

"SIS!" Tyler yelled excitedly; Pogue was forced to let go of her once Tyler started hugging her, followed by Reid, and lastly, Caleb.

"What're you doing back, baby girl?" Reid asked, much nicer than Pogue did earlier.

She gave him a sweet smile.

"I just missed you so badly, Reid, that I had to pack up all my shit in California and come rushing back."

"See, I knew you'd see it my way," he played into the game they had established around puberty.

Playfully, she rolled her eyes and gave him a slight shove as he mocked hurt.

The playfulness lasted for about another 20 seconds, when the group heard a voice behind them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Riley Sims, back from exile."

Riley closed her eyes, her lip curling on its own at the sound of his voice.

With dignity and a brave face, she turned and face him.

"If it isn't Aaron Abbott. Still little, I presume?" she said, casually scratching her nose with her pinky finger as if she wasn't dropping a hint.

She heard Reid and Tyler laugh behind her.

But Aaron's expression didn't change as he closed some of the distance between the two of them before speaking.

"You're still dying to find out."

"You're still nothing more than a walking STD to me, Aaron. Sorry," she shrugged a shoulder, feigning sorrow.

His face finally fell and he looked utterly pissed off.

But when he went to take another step forward, he was cut off by Pogue, who stepped in the middle of them.

"Think about that again," Pogue said, his voice laced with unspoken threats and rage.

"Aw, how cute. But you forget Parry; she ain't your girlfriend anymore."

"But she's still my sister," Tyler responded, stepping next to Pogue. By nature, Tyler wasn't a fighter. Except when it came to his baby sister.

"And she's still our best friend," Reid spoke, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"And you still don't have a chance in hell," Caleb added, holding her hand in his.

At that, Riley laughed out loud.

"Run back to your lackeys, sweetie," Riley told him, shooing him away like a nosy 3 year old.

With a huff, Aaron walked away from the group.

"Pool," Reid announced as he winked at Riley before grabbing her brother and leading the way towards the tables, knowing when Aaron was pissed, he bet more money and lost more often.

"I better go watch over them," Caleb said smoothly, kissing her knuckles before dropping her hand with a glance towards Pogue.

"Thanks," she said graciously, smiling widely at him.

"No problem, Riley. You know I'd do anything for--" he started.

They were interrupted by a set of dark arms snaking around themselves around Pogue's waist.

Riley recognized her at once: Kate Tunney. They'd been friends a long time ago. And now.. not so much.

"Hey baby. Sorry, I got to talking to Shirley abou--" Kate stopped herself when she noticed the girl in front of her, "Riley."

Riley smirked at the evident surprise of Kate's face.

"Hi."

"Back in Ipswich?" Kate questioned, raising an eyebrow as she continued to hold onto Pogue.

"Mm-hmm," Riley nodded, "For good, this time."

"Yeah," Kate thought she was smooth, but Riley saw the eye roll.

"I'm going to get something to drink. You want something, babe?" Kate turned her attention to Pogue, who was still looking at Riley.

"No," he shook his head.

Kate nodded, looked at Riley, then back at Pogue. She turned his head with her hand and laid a kiss on Pogue's mouth. A kiss that shouldn't be seen in public.

At the feeling of her stomach in knots and the nausea rising in her throat, Riley forced herself to look away. She caught the worried glance of her twin brother, but shrugged, sending him a small, reassuring smile that told him she was okay. For now.

Pogue turned back to her once Kate was gone.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, putting his hands deep into the front pockets of his jeans.

She shrugged a shoulder.

"Wasn't like I was expecting you to stay single forever. How long have you guys been together?"

"Um, almost three years."

The shock and pain mixture that spread on Riley's face was enough to shatter Pogue's heart into a million pieces.

"Wow," she breathed, the knots getting tighter, "I would at least expect you to give it a few months."

When Pogue didn't respond, only looked down at his shoes, Riley shrugged a shoulder yet again.

"Oh well. It wasn't like we weren't together for two years."

"Riley," Pogue started, then stopped with Riley holding a hand up.

"C'mon Pogue, you know me. Apologies and excuses are the same damn thing. And honestly, I'm interested in neither. I moved back for my brother, for my friends. Not for some puppy love crush I had on you a million minutes ago."

She also was good at convincing herself of lies. At one point, she actually convinced herself that Pogue would've waited for her and they'd have a blissful reunion.

The night didn't exactly go accordingly, to say the least.

The second Kate came back, Riley found herself saying she was going to join Tyler and Reid at the pool tables.

Pogue knew he had hurt her. He could see it the second her usually vibrant green eyes turned dull, almost lifeless. It was like they had broken up all over again. He knew he should've stopped her from leaving, to kiss her and tell her that he loved her and they could be happy together again.

But he had lied to her enough. He knew he couldn't be together with her. Not with their painful, extensive history.

That wasn't the only reason, though. The other reason was currently sitting in front of him, complaining about her English teacher.

He liked Kate a lot, he really did. He sometimes even talked himself into believing that he loved her. But the second Riley waltzed back into his life, he knew he wouldn't be able to talk himself into being in love with Kate anymore.

He thought back to the last time he'd seen Riley.

"_I don't get it. So you're just leaving?" a 15 year old Pogue Parry stood in front of his girlfriend of two years, watching as she packed up her belongings into two suitcases. She had just told him she was moving to California. _

_Riley shrugged a shoulder; "There's nothing else for me here."_

_To admit that her confession didn't hurt like hell would be the understatement of the year._

"_What about Tyler? Or your mom?" Pogue was grasping straws and knew it._

_She didn't answer; only shoved a few more things into her bag._

"_What about me?"_

_For the first time, Riley's expression changed. He noticed the unshed tears in her eyes._

"_You let me what you thought of me when I told you the news," she replied. She had been trying to sound cold and scolded herself mentally when she came out sounding sad and desperate. _

_Pogue winced; it seemed that topic was all they fought about._

_She'd told him on Tuesday. He hadn't handled it well, to say the least. The very least. Tyler and the boys had taken into beating some sense into him Thursday night._

_It was now Friday. And he was losing her quickly, with her plane scheduled for the red eye._

"_What did you expect me to do, Ly?" Pogue demanded, his anger causing his eyes to turn pitch black._

_Riley heard the familiar sound of glass shattering, and saw the destroyed picture frame. She glared at Pogue, whose eyes shamefully turned back to their original color. _

"_Great. Break my heart and break my stuff while you're at it," she mumbled under her breath. _

_The frame held the last taken picture of the four Sons of Ipswich and herself. She was in the middle, between Tyler and Pogue, who had his hands wrapped protectively around her waist. All were smiling, like they were all in on an inside joke._

"_Riley.." Pogue said, sighing heavily. He came up behind her and put his arms around her. _

_She barely resisted the urge to lean back into him. She knew that if she gave in now, she might regret it later. No, she wouldn't give in. She couldn't. For the sake of his future, she was willing to sacrifice her future happiness. _

"_We can do this together, Ly," he whispered softly, kissing her shoulder blade._

_Going back into her cold demeanor, she repulsed away from his touch._

"_No. You told me you don't want to do this. So I'm not making you. I'll do it on my own. Just leave, Pogue," she pointed towards her closed door._

"_Riley."_

"_Go, Pogue."_

"_Ly, c'mon.."_

"_LEAVE!" she yelled at the top of her lungs._

_With a heavy heart, Pogue opened the door before turning towards her. She had her back towards him, but he could tell by the heave of her shoulders that she was crying heavily._

"_I love you, Riley Sims," he told her honestly before leaving._

Now, almost three years later, she just walked right back into his life. The sight of her made him question plenty of things, most notably their last situation.

But that was a question he could save for a later date, not wanting her to run off again.

Shaking his head slightly, he let all thoughts of Riley drift away and tried to focus on the conversation Kate didn't seem to mind dominating.

Over at the pool tables, Reid and Riley were playing against each other for fun while Tyler and Caleb watched. All three boys were more than happy to have their favorite girl back in their lives.

After she had left, Tyler refused to talk to anyone for about a month. That was the beginning of womanizing Reid, since he figured all women were bound to leave anyway. Caleb had a tough time trusting girls from then on. On top of that, all three had to watch Pogue destroy his life from the inside out. He used more often. He continued to shock the Covenant when he announced he was dating Kate. Tyler punched him in the face; it was the only time anyone had ever seen Tyler be anything but sweet.

Riley hadn't been gone for six months yet.

"So, what do I get if I make this shot?" Riley stated playfully, leaning over the table as she lined up the damn near impossible shot.

"That depends. What do you want?" Reid countered, smirking.

Riley winked and chuckled as she saw Reid's eyebrows shot towards his hairline.

"Yeah right, baby girl," Reid rolled his eyes, "And have three guys wanting to beat my ass? How about I just give you a kiss on the cheek?"

"You're no fun," she fake pouted, then landed the shot perfectly.

If you weren't looking for it, you'd never have seen the flash of black that appeared in her eyes before she took the shot.

"You cheated!" Reid exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger.

She grinned innocently, smirking.

"Sorry, Blondie. Couldn't help myself," she explained, then giving him his own kiss on the cheek to get him to shut up.

Unlike any generation before them, Mrs. Sims conceived twins.

But, like every generation before them, the boy was born first. What nobody expected was the tiny glitch in the system that also gave his 5 minute younger sister the power. Their father explained that since they shared the same blood while in the womb, Tyler's powers were also given to Riley.

That, in no way, implied that they were only half as strong as the rest of the Covenant. Quite the opposite, especially when the two focused their powers together.

Nobody expected Riley to have the power until their 13th birthday, when she fell off the 2nd story balcony. And landed on her feet without so much as a scratch.

Around 10:30, Riley started to yawn.

"Well boys, I think it's my bedtime," she announced, standing up from the table.

Skillfully, she had dodged any glances or conversation with either Pogue or Kate, choosing to talk to the other three occupants.

"Do you need a ride back to the dorms?" Tyler asked his sister.

"Nah," she turned down, "I've got a car."

Tyler nodded; "We're still on for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Yes, brother. Don't worry so much. I'll be there," Riley promised, kissing his cheek.

"Good. Because you've got a lot of talking to do," he warned her, making her groan.

"You're a mean older brother."

She gave hugs and kisses to Caleb and Reid before barely even looking at Pogue, noting that he was staring at her intently.

"Bye," she said shortly, getting herself lost in the somewhat decent crowd before Pogue could stop her.

He groaned loudly when he realized she had walked past the jukebox and played F8, just to fuck with him.

"Think they'll get back together?" Reid wondered as Tyler and he drove in Tyler's black Hummer towards the dorms. It was 11:45 and Pogue hadn't even said a word since Riley left, causing Kate to leave pissed off. And without him.

Tyler shrugged a shoulder, considering the possibility.

"She's still rather messed up from.. y'know.."

Reid sighed heavily.

"Man, I don't blame her. Fifteen and got pregnant. That's just fucked up."

Instinctively, Tyler's grip tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were pure white.

"Calm down, baby boy. It was three years ago," Reid reminded him, "You forgave your brother."

"Yeah, but not his actions. He should've been there for her."

Reid couldn't reply, because he felt the same.


	2. Coming Clean

**A/N:** Disclaimer is always the same. Special thanks to **Peril of Hope** for the review; it made my day and I hope this update is soon enough for you! I make it my personal goal to write everyday, so chapters should be coming every day or every other day. Also, thanks to anyone who read it. Btw, "Ly" is like the girly version of "Lee". Enjoy.

Chapter Two:

Coming Clean

Nervously, Riley fussed over the paper napkin in her lap. Her brother's eyes were boring into her as they sat in a corner booth at some diner in town. She knew this conversation wasn't going to be fun.

"So, I haven't talked to you in a while," he commented.

She shrugged; "From what I understand, phones still work in Massachusetts. You could've called too, y'know."

Tyler felt bad. He hadn't meant for her walls to go up. He wanted to reconnect with his long lost sister. Before she decided it was time to leave town again.

When Riley smiled at him, he realized he had been talking out loud. But the fact that her smile looked forced and weak wasn't lost on Tyler; he just chose to ignore it for the sake of their conversation.

He asked a lot about California, their aunt Judy, and her school. By the time she finally got a break in the millions of questions was when they were back in Tyler's Hummer after eating.

They drove in comfortable silence, the only sound being the soft music coming from the radio. She enjoyed the scenery, watching it fly past. Sure, she had missed her family, the friends she'd had since childhood, and the overall setting, but it had been for the greater good after all. Three years had given her a lot of time to convince herself of that.

Riley was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize Tyler's Hummer was no longer moving. And they were sitting in front of the dorms.

"Alright, out with it," Tyler playfully demanded, turning in his seat to face his sister.

"Out with what?" Riley responded, feigning innocence.

"You gonna tell him?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

Her eyes immediately went to the hands in her lap, thinking it over. Tyler was almost sure she'd chosen to ignore his question until she finally spoke up.

"There's no reason to ruin it, Tyler."

Even though it wasn't the answer he wanted, or expected, he nodded all the same.

He walked her back to her dorm, putting a brotherly arm around her shoulders; "I kinda missed you."

Riley chuckled at her brother's random statement. She ruffled his hair before responding.

"I kinda missed you too, baby boy."

Tyler noticed the dark form sitting on the floor outside her door first. Even though it was a Saturday, and most kids were either still sleeping or already out at this hour, it was still brave.

The second her facial expression changed from carefree and happy to guarded and scared, Tyler knew his sister had also seen him.

"Well, um, I gotta go.. anywhere else," Tyler announced to Riley, giving her a hug and telling her that she could call him or come up to his room if anything happened.

"Coward," she mentally cursed her brother as she watched his retreating form go around a corner on the way to the room he shared with Reid.

Figuring there was no way she could enter her room and casually "forget" to see him, Riley took a deep breath and advanced towards him. His eyes were closed, but she knew he heard her coming. He was giving her the option of not talking to him, though it really wasn't an option.

All Riley had to do with unlock her door and leave it open; he got the message and casually walked in, checking the hallways for any snooping eyes before closing the door tightly.

She leaned against her desk, her arms crossed as if she was expecting whatever he could possibly come to tell her. He ran a hand through his chin length hair, sitting on the edge of her bed and put his head in his hands.

"I know Tyler lied about you not having the baby," his voice cut through the silence. How he had known was lost on the both of them, but he could feel it, could see it in her eyes.

Well, she wasn't expecting that. But didn't let it falter her stance, though she was surprised she didn't topple over by that new bit of information.

"It was the easiest thing to do at the time," she responded. Her voice wasn't cold or far away; it was simply the voice of a girl who was unsure. Not that he could blame her. If he had been in her role, he wasn't so sure he'd ever have the strength to do what she did. It didn't take a genius to see that everything she did was surrounded around protecting him.

"Easiest?" he echoed the word she had chosen. She winced at what he was insinuating. She couldn't help shrugging a shoulder in non-verbal response.

"Do you, um.. have a picture?" he asked, uneasy. He didn't want to invade her privacy, but felt he had some sort of right to ask. He had to have some sort of right.. right?

He wasn't looking at her face; otherwise he would've been able to see how shocked she looked. She figured he would dismiss the subject and continue his life with Little Miss Perfect. It was no secret that many figured that Kate was already the future Mrs. Pogue Parry. Riley wasn't even back for 24 hours yet and she already picked up that vibe.

None the less, she simply nodded, though he continued to stare at her floor, and rummaged through her wallet, slipping out a picture and handing it to him.

He smiled, though he wasn't sure why. It was probably because Riley looked so happy, like the small bundle she held in her hands was radiating happiness and Riley was in the line of fire. It wasn't a recent picture, he knew. Riley's hair was still the same color as her brother's; she hadn't dyed it blonde yet. And, if he did the math in his head, he'd know the picture was taken probably around late April or early May of their freshman year. She looked so young, too young to be what she had become.

He continued to stare at the picture, his eyes trying to remember every small detail. He felt the bed dip next to him, a sign that Riley had sat down. He finally found his voice a few minutes later.

"How old is.." he started, but stopped, the sex of the baby still a mystery as the baby blanket was yellow. Pink or blue would've been a telltale sign. He chuckled, remembering how much Riley hated pink and thought only dark blue was a good blue.

"He," Riley filled in, "His name's Logan. He'll be three on April 27th."

Pogue choked, suddenly feeling like there wasn't enough air in the room to fill his lungs. He thrusted the picture back in Riley's surprised hands, got up quickly, and left her room.

"Way to not be an asshole, Pogue," Riley commented to herself. It hurt to believe she wasn't really surprised by his response to the picture. She had grown accustomed to defending her actions when it came to baby Logan, and that of his absent father. Suddenly, Riley was having trouble remembering why she hadn't dragged Pogue's sorry ass down with her.

As angry Riley was matched how terrified Pogue was. He quickly fled from the dorm hall, jumping on his yellow Ducati motorcycle and taking off for his best friend's house. When he arrived at the Danvers residence, he didn't think twice about walking right in. Noticing Caleb probably wasn't even out of bed yet, Pogue took the stairs two at a time until he reached the top, going straight to Caleb's room.

"Caleb, dude, wake up," Pogue said, pushing his friend roughly to wake him up.

Caleb groaned in response, letting his eyes fall on the alarm clock face before groaning again; "Pogue, seriously. It's only eight."

"She had the baby, Caleb. Riley. She.. she has a baby. A son. His name's Logan," Pogue spewed off quickly, unable to control the shakiness in his voice.

Caleb's eyes shot open and he was suddenly very much awake.

"Wait, what? We all thought she.." he trailed off, not wanting to relive the moment that Tyler told the rest of the Sons that Riley was going to "get rid of" the baby. It was the second time in their entire lives that Caleb had witnessed Pogue cry, though later Pogue would defend he'd never cried.

Pogue shook his head; "No, he lied. She had it. Him. The baby. My God, she had my son."

Caleb put his hands on his friend's shoulders, trying to get him to calm down and talk like a sensible person.

"Wait, a son? So that means.." Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Pogue nodded.

"Wow. Is he here?"

"Fuck," Pogue mumbled, "I didn't think to ask. I was kinda more focused on the fact that I'm a father."

"Well, if she's staying in the dorm, more than likely he's not with her."

"Do you think he could be with her mom?"

"How many times have we been over there in the last three years? Ever heard a baby crying?"

Pogue shook his head, crossing out that possibility.

"Her aunt in California," Caleb said suddenly, "That must be where he is."

"Caleb, you should've seen the picture. He looks so much like me," Pogue's voice sounded defeated and Caleb felt horrible, not knowing what to do.

"Ok, um, so you have a son. Since he's the first born, he'll have the power. I think we need to get Tyler and Reid involved. He's part of our legacy, after all," Caleb said wisely.

The only thing Pogue could do was nod. Pogue walked downstairs and sat on the couch while Caleb showered and called Tyler and Reid, telling them to meet at the Danvers colony house.

Riley took a shower soon after Pogue decided to bolt. The hot water hit her face, mixing in with her angry tears as she leaned her hand on the tile in front of her. How could he act all distant towards her, now of all times?

Sure, she hadn't told him that she had the baby. And let her mom tell Tyler there wasn't a baby so that he would tell the others. And now, she suddenly appeared after three years with a picture of a baby who looked so much like Pogue with every day that it was terrifying, but still. She deserved a break for once.

He wasn't the one who had to deal with the stares, the rumors, the truths, and the lies. He didn't have to hear their son say "Daddy" and having no idea what the word even meant. He wasn't there every day with Logan, like she had been up until she had moved back.

Logan was currently in California with her aunt Judy. He would stay there until December, when she flew back to get him and move him into her mother's house. Her mom was excited to have her only grandbaby in the house, making it easy for the transition.

Still, it sucked to be away from the only person who had never judged her. And could make her smile by doing the simplest things.

She stepped out of the shower, the water had long turned cold, and wrapped herself in a towel. She didn't dare look into a mirror and see her blood-shot eyes. Instead, she padded out of the bathroom and towards her room, where she decided she would call her aunt Judy to hear her son's voice.

The second Tyler and Reid got the phone call from Caleb, Tyler knew he was in for a lot of explaining. And he wasn't thrilled about it.

"Dude, you're in deep shit," Reid made known as they drove to the original Danvers colony house.

'Yeah, I know," Tyler sighed, looking out the passenger side window as he let Reid drive, "Dammit. She's my sister. What was I supposed to do, betray her trust? She asked me to do one thing and that was to make sure nobody here knew about my nephew."

Reid shrugged casually; "Times like this, I'm glad I'm an only child."

Tyler rolled his eyes at his best friend, mentally preparing himself for the repercussions of his actions.

When they got there, each recognized Caleb's Mustang and Pogue's motorcycle as they walked into the house. They descended the stones stairs that led to the official meeting place of the covenant. Pogue and Caleb were already sitting in their stone chairs, seemingly carved out of the walls.

Tyler and Reid each sat before the questioning started.

"Tyler, did you know about your sister's baby?" Caleb started out easy, already knowing the answer but not wanting to attack the youngest Son.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded, "My mom asked me to protect her, making sure the rumors died down. The only way to do that was to say there was never a baby."

"How long have you known about him?" Pogue spoke, his voice holding angry emotions towards Tyler, who understood why.

"Since he was born. I was there. I went out to California for spring break and while I was there, she went into labor. Fifteen hours later, he was born. 7 pounds, 4 ounces. 21 inches long," Tyler recalled with a small smile showing on his lips.

"We're your brothers. You should have told us the truth," Caleb reminded him.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders, staring at their covenant leader.

"She's my twin, my baby sister. She was terrified, Caleb. I couldn't betray her trust."

'But you can betray ours?" Pogue spat. Caleb sighed, sending a look towards Pogue that read for him to keep his anger in check.

"Oh please," Tyler spoke up, going into defensive mode, "Like you cared. You let her leave. You know she was pregnant. You didn't fight to keep her here. So get off your high horse."

Reid and Caleb were both taken back, but Pogue's eyes suddenly flashed. They were pitch black. He was pissed.

He stood, daring Tyler, but was interrupted before he could even speak.

"Wow. Ok, that's enough," Riley said, standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on her hips.

"Ly," Caleb started, but shut up when he saw her eyes flash black.

She stared hard at Pogue, whose eyes had yet to return to their original color, and spoke. "Don't be angry at anyone but me. I know I should've told you, but oh well. Shit happens. It's in the past. Why does it matter now?"

"He's my son!" Pogue yelled, getting frustrated. Riley didn't even flinch at his outburst.

"Biological, yeah, he is. But he doesn't know you, Pogue. He doesn't know his own father. I am everything to that little boy as he is to me. And fuck you if you think you get to judge me."

"You kept him from me, Ly. You kept his whole existence a secret for three years. Don't you get it? He's my first born son; he has our power. He's part of the covenant, the next in the Parry bloodline," Pogue blinked once, his eyes returning to their original state. He was angry, but the look on his face spoke that he was also hurt.

Riley's eyes also changed, as she rolled them at Pogue.

"I'm not stupid, Pogue. I know he's the first born son. What do you want from me?" she said, angry unshed tears making her eyes look glossy.

"I want to know him," Pogue admitted, completely defeated as he took a few steps towards her, "C'mon, Ly. He's my son."

A few years ago, Riley knew she would've swooned over the look he was giving her. The look that said he was going to really try. Her heart swelled at the fact he wanted to know Logan, wanted to accept him. But she was still very cautious of anyone near her son.

"What about Kate?" she shot back; she hadn't meant to sound so bitchy, but she couldn't help herself. Here she was, a mother, while he got to play the high school student. He partied; she sang lullabies. He hung out with his friends on the weekends; she spent every second with Logan. He had no worries; she was terrified for her son's future.

"What about her?" Pogue wondered.

Tyler was biting his tongue so hard, he was sure it was bleeding. But he knew she could handle herself. It was just painful to watch his sister going through the conversation three years in the making.

Riley scoffed; "Don't you think she's gonna mind the fact you have a kid? Especially with me?"

Pogue shrugged, not wanting to admit he hadn't really thought that far into the future. "She'll deal with it. I'll talk to her."

Everyone was silent, their own thoughts taking over.

"When can we meet him?" Caleb wondered.

"Meet him?" Riley barely choked out.

"Ly, he's like our nephew," Reid reminded her, speaking for the first time as he watched the drama unfold.

"He's part of our secret. It's only right he'd be here with us," Caleb said with authority.

"Well, you guys might get your wish sooner than you thought," she started, looking at Tyler, "I called Aunt Judy today. She's really sick and doesn't want Logan to get it. Mom's on a plane right now to take care of her. She's coming back with him. He'll be here Monday afternoon."

Nobody in the room could speak. Riley was positive she wasn't the only one holding her breath.


	3. First Glances, Second Chances

**A/N: **The disclaimer is always the same; seriously, if I owned them, even a little bit, do you think I'd be writing? Yeah, didn't think so. I hope all enjoy. I know this is a weird story, but it's been stuck in my head since forever & it was time to finally have a story on. Thank you's go to the previous chapter reviewers; means **a lot** to get a bit of a response and gets me wanting to write more! I wasn't really happy with the last chapter; it seemed a bit.. _off_.. to me. Let's hope this one gets better, but no promises, as I mostly write between the hours of 10 pm & 5 am. Also, I couldn't really find whether or not Tyler's mom had an actual name in the movie; if ya know it, share the knowledge. For now, I'll make it up. Questions, comments, concerns, etc. are always welcome. Don't be shy!

Chapter Three:

First Glances, Second Chances

"_As if I wasn't nervous enough,"_ Riley thought to herself as she walked outside from the dorms. It was Monday morning and already Riley felt the urge to run back to her room and hide underneath the covers all day.

Tyler and Reid were waiting for her downstairs. Riley gave Tyler a small smile, to which he responded by throwing an arm around her shoulders, kissing her head.

"It'll be alright," he told her; it even surprised him how much that sounded like the truth.

After stating that Logan would be coming to Ipswich, she hadn't been able to face Caleb or Pogue. While Pogue was for obvious reasons, she avoided Caleb because she was afraid of his eyes. His eyes always showed his disappointment or sadness. She had seen enough of it in the last few days that she avoided him at all costs.

Of course, nothing goes to plan. She was, after, Riley Sims.

After getting her schedule, Tyler showed her to her locker, which was located a few down from his. Riley felt her throat closing up as she saw Caleb and Pogue, with Kate attached at the hip, waiting for them by Tyler's locker. She tried to look confident, but the second Pogue gave her a small smile, she thought she was going to pass out.

Instead of saying anything to him, she just brushed past, ignoring the look of distain gracing Kate's face, and opened up her locker, putting the things she wouldn't need until after lunch in.

"How are you?" was whispered to her as the others engaged in conversation.

She shrugged, glancing into her locker to avoid the look she knew he was giving her; "Fine."

"I tried calling you yesterday, just to see if you were okay."

"Really?" she faked surprise, "My cell phone must've been off. How 'bout that?"

She closed her locker and finally got brave enough to look Caleb in the face.

"Look, there's really nothing you can say to make this less difficult. So don't worry about it."

"We're just worried about you," Caleb reminded her politely.

"I don't need you guys to protect me, just your friendship," she said, equally as polite.

He smiled; "Alright. That's what you'll get. Now c'mon, you wouldn't want to be late for your first class."

Riley was shocked that her first day wasn't all that bad. She had at least one Son in all of her classes, but that didn't surprise her considering the small senior class size.

By lunch, she was feeling better than ever. She was just excited for time to pass faster. The sooner it passed, the sooner she would be able to see her son again.

She also noticed that Pogue hadn't even tried to approach her, or talk to her, even after she sat down between him and Caleb in their Literature class. One look at her brother in the back of the class told her what she kinda already figured; they told him not to, knowing it would stress her out. As thoughtful as that was, it made for an awkward class time. She could only imagine what would happen later that night.

She practically ran outside of her last class, rushing to her locker. Tyler was there first, chuckling as he watched his twin sister quickly gathering whatever she would need to do her homework that night. It was useless, as they both knew she wouldn't be doing any.

"You coming?" she asked over her shoulder, cursing when she dropped two books, full of papers.

"Of course," Tyler answered; Caleb stopped walking to also help with the mound of papers that were on the floor by her locker.

"In a hurry?" Caleb asked, smiling his boyish grin as he handed her a small stack of papers.

Hastily, she grabbed them and stuffed them into her bag; "My mom called. They're home."

Caleb's reaction wasn't written on his face, but in his eyes. He was excited too.

"Tyler, I'm sure you invited our friends over for dinner tonight, right?" she gave a look at her brother as she put her bag's strap over her shoulder and stood.

"Hey, Caleb," Tyler started, to which Caleb's grin returned.

"I'll tell them," he assured the twins, "Now, go."

With a smile and a big hug, Riley grabbed Tyler's hand and the twins rushed towards their cars.

The whole way to the Sims house, Riley drove about 80 miles per hour, the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

She didn't have a house key, so even though she got there a good few minutes ahead of Tyler, she still had to wait for him.

"Hurry up, slowpoke," Riley whined as Tyler walked past her, unlocking the bag.

"Mom!" she yelled without a second thought, hearing it echo throughout the large house.

"Riley? We're in the den," her mother's voice replied.

Tyler followed his sister to what was once their father's den; it was the only room in the house that was allowed to have a television in it, per their mother's rules.

"There's my boy," Riley said sweetly, seeing her son sitting next to his grandma, watching cartoons and playing with building blocks.

"Mommy!" Logan yelled, raising his arms towards his mother, who happily obliged his request.

She picked him up and hugged him tightly to her; it didn't hit her until Logan smiled just how much he looked like Pogue, even at the tender age of two.

"Logan, this is your Uncle Tyler. Can you say hi?" Riley introduced her son to one of the three uncles he had.

Logan acted shy for half a second until he waved his arm towards Tyler.

"Hi," Logan said, offering Tyler a smile.

"Hey little man. You been good for Grandma?" Tyler wondered.

"Uh huh! We saw Bob bob!" Logan replied, clearly excited.

Tyler looked towards Riley, who said "He means Spongebob."

The twins kissed their mother's cheeks as she said she was going to prepare dinner.

"Mom, is it alright if the boys come for dinner?" Tyler asked.

"Of course, Tyler. As long as they cause no trouble," she answered, looking towards Riley with a pointed look.

"He knows, Mom. He wants to meet Logan," Riley filled in.

Elizabeth Sims looked at her daughter then sighed; "I guess we all know he would."

With that, she left while the twins spent time with Logan.

At exactly 6:15 that evening, the doorbell rang.

"Tyler!" Elizabeth yelled from the kitchen, already knowing who would be on the front steps.

Riley was upstairs, changing Logan's diaper and clothes, so he padded from the den to the front door, letting the three boys in.

Pogue looked reluctant to enter, but Tyler sent his friend a reassuring smile.

"Hey guys," Tyler greeted, "What's up?"

Even though Tyler was trying to be casual, everyone was on pins and needles, waiting for the child to appear.

Riley came down the stairs, dressed in jeans and a green polo, with a smile on her face as she carried Logan, who wore his own pair of jeans and a Spongebob Squarepants shirt.

"Hey boys," she told them, managing to give hugs to Caleb and Reid using only one arm while Logan balanced on her hip.

"Mommy," Logan spoke suddenly, pointing to the strange boys.

"Logan, these are Mommy's friends," Riley introduced.

Caleb instantly stepped up and stuck his hand out for the boy to garb onto his fingers; "Hey buddy. I'm Caleb."

"Hi 'Leb," Logan returned, still acting shy.

Reid stayed where he was, but his eyes went soft for the kid, introducing himself.

Pogue managed not to say a word. He sent a silent message to Riley, who shook her head; Logan had no idea who Pogue was to him.

"Why don't we go see if Mom's almost ready with dinner?" Tyler suggested, leading Caleb and Reid towards the kitchen as Pogue and Riley, letting Logan walk, went back into the den.

Instantly, Logan plopped onto his favorite green beanbag, never taking his eyes off the television screen.

Riley and Pogue sat on the couch, watching Logan with smiles on their faces.

"He's beautiful" were the first words from Pogue's mouth to Riley's ears.

"Yeah," Riley completely agreed, nodding, "I like to think I had something to do with that."

"Are you gonna tell him who I am?" Pogue wondered.

Riley had contemplated that question all day long in her head; she found a solution she could live with.

"If you choose to be in his life, get to know him, spend time with him, then yeah, he can know," she responded in hushed tones to not disturb Logan, "But if you announce you're his father and then never come around, and my son asks me where you are, I swear to God, Pogue, I will take him back to California."

Pogue nodded, agreeing to her terms.

Tyler poked his head around the corner; "Guys, food."

Logan's ears picked up the magic word and he was instantly on his feet, waddling quickly towards the kitchen on the heels of his uncle.

"Give me a chance," Pogue asked, grabbing her hand before she could walk out of the den.

"I'll give you one chance to be a dad, Pogue," she told him honestly before they joined everyone else in the dining room.

After a filling meal, the teenagers took to cleaning up the mess. Reid and Tyler were doing the dishes as Caleb and Pogue were clearing the table, Riley trying to get most of the mac & cheese off of Logan before she would have to take him upstairs for his bath.

"Mommy, down," Logan requested, starting to squirm in his high chair.

"Alright," she let him down, trying to wipe up the mess he'd left behind in the chair.

She saw him trying to sneak back to the den out of the corner of her eye.

"Logan Alexander, don't you even think about it," she stated without moving her glance.

Instantly, the little boy stopped and waited patiently against the wall like the good boy he truly was.. most of the time.

Riley quickly finished wiping down the high chair and put it back in the corner before grabbing Logan's hand.

"C'mon, little one. Time for your bath," she told him sweetly, not daring to actually pick him up.

"Ly, you want some help?"

She looked to the other three, who seemed to have the kitchen under control.

"Sure, c'mon up," she offered.

She put some special device her mother insisted she use when bathing Logan; some huge piece of plastic that was supposed to ensure they couldn't topple over or fly backwards. To Riley, it looked like some torture device.

Knowing how impatient her son is about getting into the bath, Riley quickly stripped him before putting him in the plastic torture device, letting him splash around with a few boats and a rubber ducky.

"He's really a cute kid," Caleb told her honestly.

She smiled up at him; "Thanks."

They each kneeled towards the side of the tub. Riley washed Logan's brown hair, letting him continue to play. Afterwards, the teenagers sat back, letting him play in peace.

"He's really going to try, Riley," Caleb said.

All she could do in return was shrug.

"I mean, I'm not saying you guys'll get married and all that, but.. He really is gonna try to be a good," Caleb paused, knowing there were younger ears in the room, "d-a-d."

"I know that. And if not, he's got some really great uncles," Riley commented, playfully nudging Caleb's shoulder with her own, giggling when she saw him blush.

"Yeah, well," Caleb returned, acting like he was polishing the fingernails on his left hand on his shirt.

Riley pulled Logan out of the tub as soon as he started splashing heavily, a sign he was ready to exit.

As soon she pulled him out, Caleb met her with a towel, wrapping it around the small boy before going towards Riley's room as she let the water out of the tub.

She saw him setting Logan in the middle of the bed, making the 2 year old giggle and laugh as Caleb playfully dried him off, using silly voices.

He caught her stare and winked before continuing.

She got into the top drawer of her dresser, the one that currently held Logan's clothes. Pulling out a sleeping outfit and a diaper, she stood next to Caleb.

Logan, who was starting to drift off, was quickly dressed by his mother before Riley put him into his pack-n-play, a makeshift bed until they could convert one of the guest rooms into Logan's room.

"Thank you for the help," Riley told him as they walked back downstairs.

They found the trio of guys in the den, playing video games.

"Hey," Riley greeted, purposely moving around in front of the television to cause the boys a little bit of trouble.

"Riley! You just cost me a life!" Reid whined, wanting to chuck his controller at her.

"Ha, you've never had one," she quipped back, taking her seat on the floor with her back against the coffee table.

After a few more minutes, Tyler shut off the console and they all sat around, looking at each other.

"Ok, I'll start," Caleb announced, clearing his throat, "He really is a great kid, Ly. The only problem I can see is that he's from two bloodlines; I don't know if that will affect the power in any way."

"We could always check in the book," Riley offered.

Tyler shook his head at his twin.

"No, we already looked. Logan's the first to be the product of.. y'know," Tyler trailed off, never quite admitting to the fact that his younger sister and best friend conceived a child together.

"Well, we have about a decade to worry about it," Reid reminded, "We'll just see how he progresses. Not a big deal."

"We don't know if he'll get his powers earlier, Reid," Pogue started, "Or how powerful they'll be at 13. And once he ascends.. Christ, it'll be a lot for him."

"I'm sorry, but I've already had all these worries you guys are bringing up," Riley noted.

"What do you suggest then? You're his mother," Caleb encouraged, completely missing the pissed off look that graced Pogue's features.

Riley shrugged; "Look, he's going to be treated like any other kid. He'll have the power, know the secrets, be in the covenant, and that's it. No great mystery, nothing."

"Could we take him to Gorwan?" Reid asked, turning to Caleb, who shrugged.

"Well, I guess if he looked Logan ov-" he started, but was cut off.

"Hello? His mother is not ten feet from you! I'm telling you, he's fine. Just leave it alone."

Tyler's eyes met his sister's, just for a second, but he could tell there was something else.

"Riley, what aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing," she insisted, earning herself hard looks from all the guys in the room.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair; "When I was pregnant, I could feel how powerful he would be. It affected my powers, too. Any little thing would trigger it and it was so bad. I nearly killed a woman in a department store for not having the changing table I wanted in stock."

She chuckled at the memory, then shook her head.

"I know he's going to be powerful. Very powerful. More so than any of us. But I don't want him to be treated differently for it. He's just a baby."

"But it's who he is, Riley," Pogue spoke up suddenly, his eyes soft as he tried to make her understand.

"Not until he's 13 at least. Just gimme a decade to get used to it," she replied, only halfway sarcastic.

Caleb glanced at his watch; it was well past midnight.

"It's late. We should all get some sleep. We can always discuss it some other time," he offered the olive branch.

"Fine," Riley agreed, getting up from her spot and walking towards the door.

Reid and Caleb left first, after each giving Riley long hugs and words of encouragement for the future.

Tyler walked the two outside while Pogue and Riley stood in the doorway; he was standing awkwardly and she was leaning against the doorframe.

"Riley, I know you probably hate me and you have every right to, don't get me wrong. I know I didn't handle the situation the way I shou-"

"Pogue, get to the point. I got a sleeping child upstairs I need to check on," Riley felt bad for rushing him, but all wants and needs were behind Logan's.

"I want to be friends with you. We need to be friendly, for Logan's sake."

"Fine, Pogue. We can be friends," Riley offered.

Pogue smiled and gave her a hug.

Tyler, Reid, and Caleb all watched the exchange from the driveway.

"Looks like they're gonna be-"

The sight of Pogue putting his finger underneath Riley's chin and kissing her stopped Reid's words as they all watched him get slapped.

"Ass," Riley declared loudly before slamming the door on him.

"Ok, I guess not," Reid amended his previous statement.

Pogue didn't bother to say anything to the brothers; he just walked straight to his bike and rode off.

They all felt bad for Riley, who was just trying to do right by her son.

Tyler decided to stay in the house that night, in case Logan, Riley, or his mom needed anything.

As he walked back upstairs, the light underneath Riley's door was turned off but Tyler swore he could hear the soft sniffling of a certain 17 year old crying.

His heart broke, but he knew it wasn't the first time Riley cried over Pogue.

And, by the looks of things, it wouldn't be the last.


	4. Cure My Tragedy

**A/N:** Thanks to all who read; special thanks for whose who reviewed or added this story to their story alert list. Subtle things like that make a world of difference. I'm grateful. The disclaimer is always the same; I don't own them. Nor the songs "Cure My Tragedy" or "Cherry Pie". As always, enjoy the drama, of which there's plenty in this chapter, hehe.

Chapter Four:

Cure My Tragedy

Riley managed to get through her first month back at Spenser Academy. She had a lot on her plate, to say the least. Between Logan, homework, a semi-social life, and constantly fighting with Pogue over what was best for "their" child, she was exhausted.

The rest of the covenant, however, was clearly a godsend to Riley. Reid kept her laughing, even if it was at his pathetic attempts to get in her pants; Tyler had no problem watching over Logan while she needed to do homework; Caleb helped her with said homework on a nightly basis.

They formed a schedule, as reliable as the sun rising in the morning. After class, Tyler and Reid would walk her to her locker then to her car before they left for swim practice. She went home, played with Logan for an hour and a half before Tyler came home with Caleb right behind him. Tyler would then take over babysitting duties for his ever-grateful twin while she and Caleb went to the dining room, where they would successfully complete that night's homework. In return for his help, Riley would cook dinner for everyone. After she and Caleb cleaned the kitchen, they would spend an hour together before he would finally retire to his own house.

It was a fucked up family, but hey, who was she to complain? She got to be the mother, the friend, the sister, and the student without worrying one pillar of her life would fall down.

Unfortunately, she started catching herself staring at Caleb more and more. The way he smiled lazily when he was tired, the way his eyes lit up when he played with Logan, how affectionate he was towards the toddler, how his eyebrows came together when he was in… So she noticed a few things about him.

Alright, so she noticed everything about him.

"_This can't be good,"_ she kept repeating in her head; she hadn't even realized until Caleb waved a hand in front of her face that he had been talking.

"Hello in there, are you still alive?" he joked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sorry," she blushed, "What'd you say?"

"I asked you if you wanted to go to Nicky's tonight," he repeated.

It was a Friday night, already around 9 o'clock; they'd finished their daily routine a few hours ago and now, with Logan asleep, the twins and Caleb sat together in the den, watching television.

"I.. can't. Logan," she declined politely.

"Mom's home and he's asleep, sis. She'll watch over him while we go out," Tyler said, eager to get his sister out of the house. He knew she needed other interaction, to see her friends outside a classroom.

"Alright," she surrendered, "Lemme get changed."

"Hurry up," Tyler called after her, as she ran upstairs.

She came back a few minutes later, with a short black skirt and a red v-neck shirt that had a blurred black logo on the left side.

"Ready, boys?" Riley smile, barely peeking her head into the room before turning on her heel, grabbing her jacket and purse before heading out. Tyler drove his hummer, but Riley took up the passenger seat in Caleb's mustang.

"I don't know if I've ever said it," Riley started after listening to Caleb humming for a while, "But thank you."

"We're friends, Ly. It's what we've always done," he reminded her.

She hadn't expected to feel the blush on her face, but she was starting to think she wouldn't be able to help herself either way.

"You're a sweetheart, Caleb," she told him honestly as he pulled up to the bar.

For once, the eldest Son couldn't think of one thing to say; Riley took that as a window of opportunity to leave the car.

"C'mon, boy, I need someone to dance with!" she yelled back jokingly, seeing that he was still in the car while she was already at the door.

His smile returned and he walked in behind her.

Riley draped her jacket over the back of a chair surrounding the table that Pogue, Kate, and Reid had claimed for them. Dropping her purse into the seat, she offered both Kate and Pogue, the only occupants of the table at that time, a small smile.

"How's Logan?" Pogue instantly started the questioning session.

Inwardly, Riley groaned. This happened every time they were near each other. They could no longer hold a conversation without the name of Logan in it. Normally, she would never mind talking about her son, but it got old that everyone in the world had to hear about it.

"He's fine. He's at home, sleeping," Riley replied, rummaging through her purse for a few quarters.

"And here you are, in a bar," Kate snipped.

Riley could understand where Kate's hate came from. However, that didn't mean she had to deal with it. Especially when Riley had told anyone who asked that some guy she went to school with in California was actually the father of Logan. The shit she did to protect his sorry ass.

Before she could respond, Pogue jumped in.

"We need to talk, Riley," he told her, telling her with his eyes it was urgent.

She acted like she was seriously contemplating it.

Then her face broke out in a grin and she shook her head; "Nah, I'm good."

Pogue instantly went into attack mode, but the second Kate gave him a look, he dropped it.

"_Haha, pussy whipped,"_ Riley chuckled, got up, heading over to the foosball table.

Without letting her head talk her out of it, Riley grabbed the front of Caleb's shirt, pulling him towards her.

She gave him her best smile to match his confused smirk; she held up the two quarters for him to see.

"C'mon, Danvers," she said jokingly, pulling him along with her towards the jukebox.

He laughed, shaking his head. She let go of his shirt as she felt him put his hands on her waist, letting her steer him through the crowd.

Being an avid fan of 80's hair bands, she chose "Cherry Pie" by Warrant before starting to dance with Caleb. They were probably dancing closer than what was originally intended, but neither would start to complain.

Pogue knew Riley well enough to know exactly what she was doing; she knew he had a mean jealous streak in him and she loved bringing it out.

The second he saw the way his "brother" was dancing with her, he felt his blood boil. Kate followed his gaze and turned back, glaring straight at him.

"If you're really that jealous over it, maybe you're with the wrong girl," Kate told him, giving him a shove on his shoulder before grabbing her bag and fleeing the bar.

"Kate! Wait!" Pogue called after her, but shrugged a shoulder as she stormed out. He knew he should chase after her. Yet he stayed in his chair, staring at the two bodies that had not even an inch of space between them.

As the song ended, Riley smiled and hugged Caleb closely to her.

"Thanks for the dance," he told her.

"Anytime," Riley looked up at him, but saw something weird in his eyes. It wasn't the usual friendliness. It was something serious.

"_Oh.. shit,"_ she cursed in her head; she knew what was going on when Caleb's eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips then back again. He was clearly asking permission.

She opened her mouth to say something, but no words would come out.

"Hey guys, wanna play a game of pool?" came from beside them.

Riley would've gladly hugged the hell out of Reid at that point. He saw the grateful look on her face and smirked before giving her a slight nod, a sign that he understood that she needed to get away.

"Sure," Riley accepted before Caleb could protest. Her voice came out softly, like she was scared. Which she was. The last time she had a relationship with a Son of Ipswich.. well, we all know what happened there. And she was so much closer to Caleb than she had ever been to Pogue.

It wasn't that she was scared of kissing Caleb. It was that she was scared of not being able to stop herself for much longer. The tension was getting thicker.

Tyler, Reid, Riley, and Caleb played a few rounds of pool before Pogue finally made an appearance.

"Riley," he called to her, instantly putting a damper on her mood. She stopped laughing at some ridiculous thing Reid said towards her and turned her attention to Pogue.

"Yeah?" she returned, clearly uninterested in whatever he had to say.

"Can I talk to you?"

He was trying harder, she'd give him that.

"Do I have to listen?" she countered. Maybe she was spending too much time around Reid and Tyler.

Pogue rolled his eyes, her sarcasm irritating him.

"Ly, please."

Pogue Parry never pleaded with a girl to talk to him. That caused Riley's ears to perk up and a smirk come across her face, knowing she held the control in this situation.

"Alright, two minutes," she returned, handing her pool stick to Caleb, who slyly brushed his fingers against hers. It may have been close to 80 degrees in the bar, but shivers ran up Riley's spine.

Pogue and Riley stepped outside, neither talking. Riley leaned against a railing while Pogue seemed to be rehearsing what he was going to say in his head.

"What's going on, Pogue?" she wondered, sitting on top of the rail and crossing her legs. She was already bored and didn't want to deal with him. She wasn't prepared to deal with him, not in this lifetime.

"Look, I want Logan to know I'm his dad," Pogue blurted out, causing Riley to glance up quickly from staring at her shoes.

"What?" was her first reaction, then she got a hold of more words, "But won't that fuck up your picture perfect life?"

Alright, she was still a little bitter.

Pogue sighed. This wasn't the way he pictured the conversation in his head. But Riley never ceased to amaze him, that was for sure.

"Don't you think I've thought about what this could do to my life? My relationship with Kate, my family, my reputation, my future," Pogue listed.

Riley raised an eyebrow.

"If this is your way of convincing me you should be let back into my life, you really suck at it."

So Pogue tried again.

"He's my son, Ly. How can you possibly think I'd be okay with staying away?"

"You seemed fine when I told you. I believe the words 'abortion' and 'adoption' came out of your mouth more than once," Riley remembered, tapping a finger against her chin. Yup, definitely way too much time spent with Reid and Tyler.

"I was 15, Riley," Pogue could feel his anger rising, so he stopped for a second to gather his thoughts.

"I want to know him and I want him to know me. I can be a good father."

"What about all those worries you had earlier? Kate, your future, all that bullshit?" Riley asked, part of her wondering if he was gonna try to kiss him again. At least from her position she could give him a swift kick to the jewels.

Pogue shook his head.

"What I was trying to tell you was it doesn't matter. I could care less what anyone thinks. I can still go to college next fall. My family will understand. And if Kate loves me as much as she claims, she won't bat an eye."

"Wow. You really don't get women, do you?" Riley sighed, slipping off the rail gracefully, "You have a child, Pogue. There's a person out in the world that you helped make, that's half you. That's not exactly a great thing for your boyfriend to have."

Pogue shrugged; "Little I can do about that now."

"Alright, Pogue. But there's some conditions to this," Riley started, but Pogue cut her off.

"I know. No coming back and forth in his life. Keep my promises. Be good. I get it, Riley."

"And," Riley held up a finger to keep him from interrupting again, "no more making moves on his mom. You can't just kiss me, Pogue. We have a child together, but that's it. I don't want to be your girlfriend again.'

Pogue didn't know if it was her honesty, or the blatant rejection, but Pogue's heart hurt. But what could he do? She'd obviously made up her mind.

"Alright. Deal."

"Good. Come around tomorrow for dinner. I need time to explain things to him first," Riley set up.

"That's fine," Pogue nodded, making it a mental note, "Thank you, Riley."

"You're welcome," Riley said, stepping over to him carefully and giving him a friendly hug, "But if you break my son's heart, I'll break your neck."

Even though he doubted she could ever one-up him in an actual fight, he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was dead serious.

He just nodded in response.

Riley walked back inside after the talk with Pogue, finding the rest of the Sons still at the pool table.

"Hey," she greeted them, smiling wide.

"Everything alright?" Caleb asked softly as she stood next to him.

"Mm-hmm, yeah," she took a big breath, "We're going to tell Logan tomorrow."

"Wow," Tyler was, by far, the most surprised. He knew it would take a lot for his sister to allow Pogue back into her life, even with a kid together. Then again, Riley was always the most brave person he'd ever known.

"Yeah. Lots of drama gonna happen in the Sims house tomorrow night," Riley predicted.

"I'll be sleeping in the dorms tomorrow," Tyler announced, getting a chuckle from Riley.

"It'll be fine," Riley sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than the others.

"Do you still want me to come over to help with your French homework?" Caleb asked, lining up his shot.

"Yeah, absolutely. I'll owe you big time if I pass that test on Monday," she returned.

"Oh hell, I'll teach you then," Reid interjected, sending a wink towards Riley; she pretended to gag, making Tyler and Caleb laugh.

"Go hit on some other poor high school girl," Riley told him, nudging him in the shoulder.

"I just can't, Riley," Reid started, overdramatic as he placed a hand over his heart, "Honestly, you're the only M.I.L.F. for me."

Riley contorted her face to show her disgust.

"Oh, icky. I'm gonna have to shower after that one."

"Need help?" Reid offered.

"Ok, seriously! My God. We are getting your neutered," Riley stated, laughing as he looked absolutely horrified.

"C'mon, Ly, I'll drive you home," Caleb offered, putting an arm around her waist.

"Alright, sure," she returned, letting him keep hold of her as they walked to the other side of the bar, getting her purse and both their jackets.

Looking around, Pogue could be seen talking to one of their classmates near the bar. He caught her stare. He seemed surprised when she gave him a genuine smile, which he returned.

"Let's go, gorgeous."

Riley followed Caleb out of the bar, waving two fingers towards Reid and Tyler.

"Have fun tonight?" Caleb wondered as he parked his car in her driveway.

"Yeah. It's just what I needed."

He smiled, leaning against the headrest.

The silence in the car wasn't uncomfortable, but both wanted to say something to fill it either way, hoping the tension would go away.

"Even if Pogue fucks up royally with you and Logan, you'd still have me, Tyler, and Reid to help out," Caleb immediately grabbed her attention by his sudden outburst.

"I know. You guys have been great," she returned, her voice a bit quieter.

They were quiet before finally Riley couldn't take it anymore.

"Were you going to kiss me after we danced?"

Her words surprised them both; usually, she wasn't that straightforward.

"Yeah," Caleb admitted.

"Oh," she commented, looking outside her passenger window, "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Because of Pogue," Caleb added onto the end of her sentence.

She almost gave herself whiplash by how quickly she turned her head to look at him.

"Pogue? No, I mean for Logan. He's going to know that Pogue is his father. I don't want to confuse him by having Mommy's boyfriend around."

"Ly, I'm here every day. I'm sure he gets it by now," he told her gently.

It was true. Though she didn't want to admit it, Logan always seemed happier with "'Leb" around.

"Probably" came her response, though it was so quiet, she wasn't sure he heard it.

"Don't worry, Ly. I'm not going anywhere," he promised her.

She knew he wasn't lying. She'd known him for years and knew he couldn't look her in the eye if he lied.

"I should probably get inside. It's really late," she stated the obvious, though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

She opened her door and tried to hide her disappointment as she got out of the car. When she went to put the key in the door, she felt a hand grab her upper arm. She nearly jumped out of her skin.

But before she could question it out loud, Caleb's lips crashed onto hers. She didn't think twice before she responded, kissing him back.

"Bye Riley," he told her when they finally parted some time later.

She couldn't speak, or move for that matter. All she had was one thought.

"_Oh, I am so screwed."_


	5. Only Time Can Tell

**A/N:** Thanks to all who read. You guys are so awesome! Disclaimer is still the same. If you notice, the summary is different from before; I decided to wait until I knew for sure that it would be a PogueOCCaleb story. Just to add to the drama, eh. I couldn't help myself!! The story seems to be moving slowly, but it will pick up after this, no worries. And the supernatural drama is also soon to begin. Oh, and I may be in need of someone to beta. Mostly because I type a lot very late night/early morning and I wanna make sure I don't have any mistakes. If you're interested, lemme know. Anyway, enjoy.

Chapter Five

Only Time Can Tell

Riley was anxious the whole day. Tyler tried talking it over with his twin, telling her she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to. But Riley knew she had to get today over with.

She spent the day with her son, taking him to a local park and letting him run wild for a few hours. She knew pretty soon he wouldn't be able to go out so much, it already being chilly in mid-October. Before long she finally decided it was time to prepare for that night's dinner.

Logan got a bath and a diaper change from his mom before being handed over to Uncle Tyler, who was more than happy to explain his video game to the two year old, who was just happy to be with his uncle.

She put the casserole she had prepared into the oven before taking her son back from Tyler, hitting him upside the head while doing so.

"Ow! What was that for?" Tyler rubbed the spot her hand had made contact with.

"He's two. Don't go tainting him already with video games."

"Mommy, juice," Logan requested and she nodded, letting him follow behind her as she went into the kitchen, filling his favorite sippy cup with apple juice and handing it back to him.

"Logan, Mommy wants to talk to you. Come here," she told him as they walked into the living room.

Logan was tentative about going near his mother, in fear he might be in trouble.

"You're not in trouble," she eased his mind. With that, he waddled right up to her, struggling a little to get up on the couch but was successful.

Slowly, she started explaining, which was difficult. But her son was smart and understood, well, he understood as much as his 2 year old mind would allow.

"'Here Daddy?" Logan asked once his mother was done.

She took a deep breath before answering correctly.

"He'll be here and you'll get to play with him," Riley promised.

With that, Logan just smiled and put his head on his mom's leg. She let him fall asleep until she heard the doorbell; lifting him carefully to put him on the floor surrounded by pillows before answering the door.

"Hey," she greeted as she stepped aside, smiling.

Without saying a word, he grabbed her chin and gave her a kiss. It was soft and only lasted a quick second, but Riley still felt like she was getting dizzy.

"A 'Hi Riley' would've worked too," she joked, shutting the door behind him.

"Hi Riley."

"Hi Caleb," she returned.

"Where's Logan?" he wondered, noticing the toddler wasn't attached to his mother's leg.

"He's sleeping in the.." Riley started.

"'LEB!" Logan came running out from the living room, going straight for Caleb with his arms held out.

"He's right here," Riley amended, touched by the sight of Caleb leaning down and picking up the boy, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey buddy. You being good?" Caleb asked, then chuckled when Logan nodded his head.

"I gotta check on dinner," Riley excused herself.

Caleb took Logan into the den, seeing Tyler sitting on the couch.

"Hey man," Tyler greeted his brother, opting for a more Logan-friendly channel on the tv.

"Hey baby boy," Caleb returned, sitting Logan between him and Tyler.

Another ring of the doorbell went off about ten minutes later.

"I'll get it!" Tyler yelled towards the general direction of the kitchen before yanking open the door.

"C'mon in, man," Tyler ushered Pogue into the house.

"Where's Riley?" he instantly asked.

Tyler bit back the sarcastic remark that was on the edge of his tongue and answered politely; "She's in the kitchen, making dinner."

Without another word to Tyler, Pogue went to find Riley.

Tyler resisted the urge to roll his eyes before going back to the den.

"That Pogue?" Caleb asked; Tyler just nodded.

"I saw Caleb's car out front."

"_Can none of the Sons greet someone properly?"_ crossed Riley's mind; unlike her twin, she couldn't resist rolling her eyes.

"He's here for moral support."

"This is a family matter, Ly," Pogue reminded her. He wasn't being mean or jealous, just stating the obvious.

"Yeah, and Caleb's your brother," she added, "He's just here to spend more time with Logan, just like you'll be doing."

Pogue tried to not hear the sarcasm at the end of her sentence, a clear sign she didn't think he'd actually keep to his word.

"You explain it to him?"

Riley nodded; "He understands as much as he can."

They fell into silence for a few minutes.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Pogue wondered, surveying the scene as she continued to work on dinner.

"You could set the table," she answered, not looking up from what she was doing.

"Alright," he agreed.

Dinner was a little weird. Nobody knew what to say about the situation, especially not with Logan eating in his high chair between his mother and Caleb.

"Mommy, I have 'eaches?" Logan asked, cutting through the silence.

He had already eaten his portion of the casserole, plus a few graham cracker pieces Caleb snuck to him when he thought Riley couldn't see it.

"I'll get it," Caleb got up, but was stopped by Pogue's statement.

"I'll go."

The two eyed each other for a few seconds before Riley shook her head at them.

"Tyler, will you please?"

He just nodded at his twin before going to get a peaches fruit cup from the fridge.

"Wow, way mature. You guys gonna duel later when I have to give him a bath?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, brother." Caleb was always the more forgiving Son.

"Me too," Pogue mumbled as Tyler returned with the fruit cup and a small spoon, handing it to his sister.

Afterwards, Caleb and Tyler set about cleaning the kitchen while Pogue watched Riley clean up Logan as best she could.

"Ready?" she asked Pogue, looking him dead in the eye.

He nodded and followed her as she held onto Logan. They were in the living room and Riley sat Logan between them.

"Mommy?" Logan questioned, looking towards Pogue. He wasn't around him nearly as much as the others and was terrified of the man.

"Logan, you remember Mommy telling you that your daddy was coming and he wanted to play with you?" Riley started, thankful that Logan nodded.

"Logan, this is your daddy," she told him.

The toddler turned and looked at Pogue, whose smile looked unsure and his eyes were very intense.

Riley thought Logan would take a liking to Pogue like he did to the rest of the Sons. But she was shocked as hell as Logan grabbed onto her, looking like he was about to cry. And then, he did just that.

Logan didn't just cry; no, he screamed bloody murder.

"Logan, calm down. It's alright, honey, just calm down," Riley tried soothing her child, sending an apologetic look to Pogue.

Caleb and Tyler came running around the corner, hearing Logan's cries.

"What's wrong with him?" Pogue wondered, asking loudly as the child was still crying heavily.

"He doesn't know you," Tyler informed him; Logan heard his uncle's voice and his glance settled on Caleb.

"'Leb!" he yelled out, holding his hands out for Caleb to take him.

Acting purely on instinct, Caleb held onto Logan, rubbing the child's back in hopes of getting him to settle down. When he did, Caleb turned Logan in his arms so that Riley could see his face.

"Logan Alexander Sims, that was not a very nice way of treating your dad," she scolded him, frustrated that the reunion wasn't going as either parent expected.

"He not Daddy! 'Leb Daddy!" Logan suddenly screamed out, holding tightly onto Caleb.

Pogue's sadness was evident and the whole room went quiet.

"I'll take him upstairs for his bath," Caleb said, walking upstairs with Tyler in tow.

"I'm so sorry," Riley started, but Pogue held up a hand to silence her.

"I didn't think it would easy," he replied, shrugging a shoulder, "But I also didn't think he'd start calling Caleb his father."

"I swear, he's never referred to Caleb like that. It's just.. Caleb's always around; kids notice stuff like that."

Pogue nodded.

"But I'd still like you to get to know him, y'know? Come over once in a while, play with him. He'll trust you, Pogue."

Again, he only nodded.

"Alright. I should get going," he stood up from the couch.

"It'll be ok," Riley assured him as she leaned against the door. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a hug. Pogue was surprised, but wrapped his own arms around her waist, returning the affection.

With a wave, Riley shut the door and went upstairs.

As worried as she was, it melted away the second she stepped into the bathroom connected to her room. Then she started laughing at the sight. Logan had convinced Caleb and Tyler to give him the bottle for the bubble bath, resulting in there being bubbles spilling out of the bath as Logan grinned and laughed, splashing about. Caleb was digging through the bubbles, trying to lessen the water in the tub as Tyler was quickly mopping up the mess using tons of towels.

Hearing her laughter, the boys stopped and turned, each blushing badly. She just shook her head before grabbing Logan out of his bubble fort and wrapping him in a towel.

She turned back to them as they were still cleaning and chuckled again; "Thanks, guys. I needed that."

She put Logan to bed a few minutes later. He was absolutely exhausted from all the tension and the crying he'd done earlier. She went downstairs and went onto the backyard porch, staring up at the moon as it shone brightly.

Riley must admit, she was having a tough time dealing with the fact that Logan had called Caleb his father. She knew it cut through Pogue like a knife, but also noticed that Caleb hadn't objected to Logan calling him "Daddy".

"_Now what am I gonna do?"_ she wondered, sitting on the steps that led from the porch to the rest of the backyard. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't hear him come outside until he sat down beside her.

"Well, that was a lot of fun," Caleb joked, making her smile.

"Yeah," she agreed.

They fell into yet another comfortable silence, each entertained by their own thoughts. Riley found that she could no longer stand it though and interrupted the silence.

"I can't be your girlfriend."

Caleb didn't seem surprised, but amused.

"I don't remember asking you to be, Ly."

She blushed slightly, but continued; "I'm serious, Caleb. I can't be your girlfriend. I can't be anything other than a friend with you."

"Is this because of Pogue?" he wondered.

"Yes and no," she answered, sighing, "He'd be hurt, y'know. And you're his brother; we can't do that to him. Plus we're confusing Logan."

"How so?" he leaned backwards on his arms, raising an eyebrow for her to continue.

"He won't accept Pogue. He thinks you're his dad. He wants you to be, at least."

A small smile graced Caleb's features. Riley's eyes got wide and she playfully smacked Caleb's chest.

"Caleb Danvers! Don't you encourage it!"

"Why not?"

She didn't answer. Mostly because she didn't have an answer. Sure, Pogue was trying, but Caleb had around been trying; he'd already established trust with Logan and the two shared a great relationship. Hadn't Caleb earned the right for Logan to call him "Daddy"?

Shaking her head to get the thoughts out of her head, she stood up on the steps.

"I should probably get to bed," she announced to him.

She went to walk past him, but he grabbed her hand.

"What are you so afraid of?" Caleb wondered, looking her straight in the eye.

The look he was giving her was so intense, she had to look away.

"I know Pogue fucked up with you," Caleb started again, pulling on her hand gently until she sat back down by him, "But we're not all like Pogue."

"Close enough," she mumbled, then blushed when she realized Caleb heard her.

"I can't date another Son. I can't go through it all over again. I just.. can't."

"Riley, in all the years we've known each other, have I ever hurt you?"

Memories flashed in front of her eyes.

"No," she shook her head, "You were always my best protector."

"Exactly. So why would I start now?"

That damn smile. It was killing her. If she hadn't been sitting already, her knees would've buckled.

"You don't have to be afraid, Ly."

He leaned closer to her; all she could do was close her eyes as he gave her a kiss, trying to reassure her.

She rested her forehead against his, trying to catch her breath when they parted.

"Pogue's gonna kill you,' she whispered.

"Let me deal with him," Caleb whispered back before going to kiss her again.

They finally walked back inside a half hour later, holding hands.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow night at Nicky's?" Caleb questioned.

"If Mom can baby-sit, sure," she answered.

"I'll pick you up around seven then," he replied, giving her another kiss.

"You're never gonna leave if you keep doing that," she told him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug.

She felt his chest move as he chuckled.

"Alright, message clear. I'm going," Caleb answered, returning the hug.

"Bye," she said softly. This time it was Riley who started the kiss.

"Bye Riley," he waved before going into her car and speeding off towards his own house.

She smiled to herself and slowly walked upstairs, where Tyler intercepted her before she got into her room.

"You and Caleb, huh?" Tyler mentioned, trying to act casually.

"We're just friends, for now," she answered, "Don't worry so much, big brother. I know what I'm doing."

"I know. I'm just.. protective, I guess. Night."

"Good night," she returned, kissing her brother's cheek before going into her room and going to bed.

Riley spent her Sunday with her two favorite people. In the early afternoon, she took Logan outside to play for a bit. Later, her mother had agreed to baby-sit, so Riley was able to go to Nicky's. She was constantly aware of the looks they were getting when they walked in together holding hands.

But it was rather funny that when she went off to play pool with Reid and Tyler, the girls suddenly flocked themselves to Caleb at the foosball table, who politely declined them until he finally went over to the pool table, putting his arm around Riley's waist.

The message was clear to everyone in the bar that night: they were witnessing a new relationship.

**A/N:** Ok, not the most perfect place to end a chapter, but otherwise, this chapter would be about 50 pages long, heh. Lemme know what you thought.


	6. Fifth Wheel

**A/N:** Many thanks to whose who R even if you didn't thanks for reading. I'm glad so many people are enjoying the story. With that, here's the next chapter; the part some have been hoping for. I hope everything makes sense. It's 2 in the morning where I am, heh. Talk about dedication! Enjoy, y'all!

Chapter Six:

Fifth Wheel

Monday morning was less than perfect for Riley. The second she walked into her first class, she felt all eyes staring at her, questions visible in their eyes.

In the middle of class, Keira Snider, the bitchiest girl to ever walk the halls of Spenser Academy, fake coughed after Riley correctly answered a question.

"Slut," Keira said in between her coughs, earning herself a glare from Riley and Reid, who was also in the class.

"Yeah, because I'm the one who opens my legs every time Aaron Abbott shows up," Riley quipped harshly to the girl.

Keira looked shocked. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that.

"Exactly. You're pathetic," Riley rolled her eyes as the class chuckled and the teacher looked annoyed to have been interrupted.

"Ms. Sims, are you done?" the teacher wondered.

"Um, yeah, I think I'm good now."

Reid put an arm around her shoulder, proud of how she handled it.

"Don't tell Caleb or Tyler," she made him promise right before the bell rang; Reid promised.

The rest of the day flew by. She didn't have any other problems, except for a few snide remarks made by Keira and her followers. Unfortunately, Keira made the mistake of saying one in front of Caleb and the rest of the group. Well, the remarks stopped after that.

Pogue came up to her as she was about to go into her last class.

"Hey," his voice stopped her.

"Hey Pogue. What's up?" she greeted kindly.

"I was wondering if it was okay if I came over today, after swim practice. Just to spend some time with Logan." She could tell by the way he was shifting his weight that he was very nervous.

"Of course. You know you can always come over."

His face broke out in a smile; "Thanks."

As promised, three of the four Sons entered her house after their swim practice.

"Hey guys," she greeted, laughing as she watched Logan was eating his s'more, getting most of it all over his face.

"Hey sis. Hey there buddy," Tyler returned, kissing his nephew's head, who instantly noticed Caleb was there.

"'Leb! Mommy, me want down," Logan requested, outstretching his hands as far as they could possibly go.

"Logan, what do you say?" Riley instructed automatically, going so quickly into mother mode that it almost scared the other three.

"Pweese?" Logan corrected himself, still outstretched.

"Wait, Mommy needs to clean your face," Riley quickly wiped his face down. Caleb took the little boy into his arms and playfully tossed him up into the air a few times.

Riley chuckled at the sight, cleaning up their afternoon snack mess.

"Pogue, I don't think the wall needs your support," she joked, noticing Pogue hadn't left his spot, leaning against the wall.

"Do you want help with that?" he offered quietly, seeing her washing dishes.

"No, but thank you," she told him, finishing her chore.

"You wanna start the homework?" Caleb asked, making funny faces to entertain Logan.

"Sure. Tyler, Pogue, you guys can take Logan to watch tv or something," Riley offered; Tyler took his nephew to the den with Pogue following.

"He's not acting a bit awkward," Riley said with sarcasm, rolling her eyes.

"He's not used to acting like a father," Caleb stuck up for his brother.

"Yeah, well, you don't seem to have a problem with it," Riley countered.

"I have ulterior motives."

Riley's interest sparked and she raised an eyebrow. Was this the same Caleb Danvers being so flirtatious with her?

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Boy Scout."

Riley winced at her comment. Her words didn't come out as planned, so she decided to quickly backtrack.

"That's not what I mean. I mean, you're so nice and stuff. You'd expect stuff like that from Reid, y'know, and.." she started, but stopped when she saw him smiling widely.

"What?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"You're cute."

Riley rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, we better start that homework," Riley changed the subject.

Riley noticed during dinner that Logan's eyes barely left Pogue's direction, even when he was eating. It was quite funny to watch, because the toddler would miss his mouth half the time and start chewing his fingers before he realized it and went to grab more food.

"Pogue, what happened?" Riley asked.

"What?" Pogue looked innocent.

"You did something, look at him. He won't stop looking at you," Riley pointed out.

The toddler's gaze still didn't falter as Pogue stared back. Logan laughed when Pogue stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes.

"Logan," Riley pointed towards Pogue, "Who is that?"

"Goo," Logan answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Goo. I like that," Tyler joked.

"Shut up, baby boy," Pogue threatened him playfully.

Riley sighed, then pointed towards Caleb; "And who's that?"

"Daddy."

"_Fuck." _Riley's brain screamed. Not exactly the answer she was expecting.

"No, Logan. Who is that?" Riley tried again.

"Daddy?" Logan started sounding unsure.

"Logan, you know that's not your daddy. That's Caleb," Riley reminded him, before pointing at Pogue, "That's Daddy."

"No," Logan shook his head, looking at Pogue, "Bad Daddy."

"Logan!"

"No, it's alright, Riley," Pogue told her, shrugging a shoulder.

"No, it's not. He has to realize who his dad is."

"He knows," Tyler added his two cents, getting a glare from Pogue and Riley.

"Ok, or he doesn't," Tyler amended.

"Caleb.." Riley started, sending him a look.

He held up his hands in innocence; "I did not encourage it, I swear."

"'Leb my Daddy," Logan announced, crossing his pudgy arms.

Riley rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.

"Y'know, I read that you shouldn't force a child to call someone something. It usually occurs to them who people are to them," Tyler pointed out.

"Thank you, Dr. Phil," Riley mumbled.

"Just trying to say, you can't force Logan to call Pogue his dad so soon after meeting him. If he wants to call Caleb his dad, let him. He'll grow out of it," Tyler said before getting up from the table and starting on cleaning up the kitchen.

"I should get going," Pogue announced, standing up from the table.

"Alright, well, we'll see you later," Riley told him awkwardly. He gave a slight nod to that and showed himself out.

"What?" Caleb asked, trying his best to look innocent.

"Oh, you are so busted," Riley glared.

Caleb took Logan up out of his seat and held him in front of Riley's face; "How could you be mad? C'mon, just look at that face."

Riley melted at the sight of Logan's grin and couldn't help but smile herself.

Caleb put Logan on his lap, letting him reach for Caleb's spoon.

"I didn't necessarily encourage it," Caleb started honestly, "But he's been going back and forth between calling me 'Leb and Daddy and I've just never corrected him."

"It's fine," she assured him with a shrug.

Later, when Riley was walking Caleb out to his car, she was disturbed by how serious he looked. There wasn't even a glint of a smile in his eyes.

"Caleb, what's wrong?" she wondered, stepping in front of him to get his attention.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"About?"

"I want to ask you to be my girlfriend, but you told me not to."

His honesty surprised her and she had to blink a few times to absorb the information completely.

"Sorry, I just hallucinated. What'd you say?"

Caleb chuckled, then repeated what he said.

"You realize that's probably not a good idea, right?"

"Maybe," he shrugged, "But that's not going to stop me from trying."

Riley couldn't help but blush.

"So," she started, acting casual, "You gonna ask me or what?"

"Riley, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked immediately, holding one of her hands between the both of his.

She looked as if seriously contemplating it, even hitting him with a "Gee.. I don't know.." before her face broke out in a grin.

"Duh." was all she said before he gave her a hug, lifting her completely off the ground.

He gave her a kiss, still holding tightly onto her.

"I gotta breathe, Caleb," she playfully reminded him, smiling as she saw the blush crept into his face and he set her gently on her feet.

"It's late, you should probably go," she said.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow," he gave another kiss before starting to get into his car, "Oh, that reminds me. We have a meet on Wednesday. Can you and Logan go?"

"Sure, yeah. I haven't been to one in forever," she accepted before waving and going inside.

Riley was stuck in a horrible nightmare that night. She was standing at the Dells near the cliffs, not being able to see much in the heavy fog. All she could hear was a maniacal laughter that seemed to be coming from all directions.

Then she saw her child. Suspended over the edge by an invisible force.

"Oh my God! Logan!" she screamed, trying to reach out for him, but her powers weren't working.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that" a low voice growled into her ear.

She turned, but only saw a facial impression in the fog. She kept trying to reach her son, who looked to be heavily sleeping.

"But would you die for him?" the voice returned.

Riley made up her mind. She jumped to reach him without a thought. But her fingertips went right through his body. He was only a mirage. And she was plummeting down towards her death.

She bolted wide awake, breathing heavily and feeling sweaty.

She got out of her queen sized bed and crossed towards Logan's bed. And panic rose in her throat.

He wasn't there. Her two year old son was not in his bed.

"Gee, I wonder how that could've happened."

When she recognized the voice from her dream, the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.

She glanced at him, but not recognition came to mind. Except for the fact he was holding a sleeping Logan. And that he was floating above her.

"Give me back my son and I'll let you keep your testicles," she growled angrily. She could already feel the power rising in her veins.

"Now, now, little sister. I'm sorry we haven't met before then," he took a second to scan her over.

Riley shuddered, suddenly feeling very naked despite wearing long pj bottoms and a tank top.

"Look, I don't give a fuck who you are and what you think you're doing. Just give him back."

She cringed as she saw a spider come from his sleeve, across his fingers, and straight onto Logan's face.

"Please, he's my son," she used another tactic.

"And a powerful one. I can feel it, just holding him. He's going to be more powerful than both his mother and his father," he predicted.

Riley was so close to tears and thought of calling for Tyler, but the man above her came down slightly, being a bit too close for Riley's preference.

"Trust me, you don't want to do that. Baby boy will only get hurt."

Riley couldn't help that her eyes widened; he could hear her thoughts.

She had the idea of using her power, but the look on his face told her that wasn't such a great idea.

"Please," she pleaded, "I'll do anything."

"But would you die for him?" he regurgitated the words he'd spoken to her in the dream.

Before Riley could respond, the man disappeared, still holding onto Logan.

"TYLER!!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tearing flowing freely.

"What? What happened? What's wrong?" Tyler saw the tears on his sister's face.

"He got Logan. He took my son," she sobbed, crying into Tyler's collarbone.

"Wait, who?"

"I don't know!" she cried harder, "But he had the power."

At that revelation, Tyler's body stiffened at the possibility. He hoped he was wrong, for his nephew's sake.

"I'm going to call the guys," Tyler told her, grabbing Riley's cell phone from her night stand. He saw her sitting on the floor, her shoulders shaking badly as her sobs went through her.

He called Caleb first.

"Hey babe, miss me already?" came Caleb's sleep filled voice.

"That's real sweet, Caleb, but we've got a huge problem. Someone took Logan."

Caleb bolted out of his bed.

"WHAT!"

"Just get over here."

Before Tyler had hung up the phone, Caleb was already pulling on a pair of pants.

Once everyone was informed, they all rushed to the Sims' house.

The twins sat in the living room, waiting. Riley had stopped sobbing, but tears continually slipped out of her eyes. Tyler handed her a cup of tea, the only thing he could think of to console her.

Caleb got there first and didn't even bother knocking, using to unlock the door and barged right in.

"Riley!"

Upon the sight of Caleb's worried expression, emotions hit Riley hard. She started crying harder and let Caleb pull her up into his arms.

"What happened?" Caleb demanded from Tyler while comforting his girlfriend.

Tyler was about to answer, when Reid and Pogue burst through the door.

"What's with the secr-" Reid started, then saw Riley, "What happened?"

"Where's Logan?" Pogue innocently wondered, not seeing the two year old.

The sound of Riley sobbing at the mention of her son's name gave Pogue a big suspicion.

"Tyler, where's my son?" Pogue asked sadly.

Tyler took a deep breath.

"Ok, Riley had a weird dream tonight. She said she was at the Dells and Logan was floating over the edge and when she tried to reach him, she fell and didn't have use of her powers. When she woke up, someone was hovering in her room and had Logan. He then disappeared."

"Someone took my son?!" Pogue was outraged, to say the least, then he looked at Riley, who had stopped sobbing uncontrollably but was leaning on Caleb for support, "Someone has our son?"

She walked towards him and hugged him; neither believing that someone could just steal their son.

"How could he know? He's never even seen Logan.." Pogue's voice cracked and he dipped his head as tears threatened to come out.

"Don't you get it, man? Someone is targeting us again," Caleb explained.

"Riley, tell them what you told me," Tyler encouraged.

She nodded, still sniffling.

"He called me his little sister, just like you guys do."

Reid, Pogue, and Caleb looked at each other.

"No, that's impossible. Caleb killed him," Reid shook his head, refusing to believe it.

"Who?" Riley demanded to know who could have her son.

"Chase Collins," Caleb's voice came out soft and his eyes looked distant.

"Who the fuck is Chase Collins?" Riley's questioning continued.

"He's from the fifth bloodline. He targeted us a few months ago, right before you came back. He tried to get Caleb to will him his power when Caleb ascended. But Caleb also got his dad's power and defeated him.. Well, so we thought," Reid gave her the cliff notes version, casually leaving the part out about going through Caleb's then-girlfriend to get to Caleb. The same damn thing was happening now.

"Is he really powerful?" she wondered, though she already knew the answer. Just being around Chase made her feel like she had no power.

"He almost killed me," Caleb told her, still speaking softly.

"Caleb," she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her, "That motherfucker has my son. I don't care if I have to kill him myself, I want Logan back with his family."

Her usually calm green eyes were sparking violently, the black threatening to take over her irises.

"We'll get him back," Caleb swore.


	7. One Thing Leads To Another

**A/N:** A huge thank you for all the readers. I can't believe that many people like my story, heh. Early warning: this chapter is rather long simply because I wanted to type; I needed to lessen the drama before adding to it. Enjoy.

Chapter Seven:

One Thing Leads To Another

Riley's life took a plummet.

She hated going to school. She had all but given up on going to classes, so Tyler convinced their Provost that she needed time off. And she couldn't go home and not hear her son watching Spongebob or see his empty bed at night. So, she was staying back in her dorm.

She felt bad, but she really didn't feel up to talking to anyone. The only people that came were Tyler each day around 4 to give her that day's work and Caleb, who came around with dinner and stayed until the morning, watching over her as she tried to sleep.

It was Wednesday afternoon; the clock read 4:05 pm. Her twin was never late and she was starting to worry that Chase had gotten to her brother. Then she remembered that they had a meet today.

She decided to drag herself out of bed, shower, and dress in jeans and a red v-neck shirt. If nothing else, maybe being distracted by her boyfriend in a Speedo would help.

Slipping in unnoticed, she sat at the far right side of the bleachers. The Sons hadn't swum yet, since the seniors' boys swimming was always last. But they were all out, cheering on the younger teammates.

Tyler instantly felt his twin's presence and started looking around for her.

"Caleb," Tyler got the older boy's attention, "she's here."

Upon hearing those words, Caleb's eyes started scanning the crowd quickly. When he spotted her, a smile crossed his face as she waved. He waved back, happy to see her out of her room.

Though he was just as scared for Logan as anyone, he was terrified that Riley would pull herself away from him. But her being there was sign of just the opposite.

He quickly crossed over to her, picking her up from where she sat and hugged her tightly.

"Nice to see you too," she tried to joke lightly.

"I didn't think you'd come."

"I told you I would," she reminded him, ignoring the fact that all the girls around them were staring.

"I know, but was.. before.." he definitely didn't want to bring up the subject.

"Danvers! Get over here!" his coach yelled from across the pool.

"I gotta go. Wait for me, alright?"

"Ok," she agreed.

He turned to leave but then thought better of it and gave her a huge kiss, shocking everyone including Riley. He normally wasn't one for p.d.a.

"Bye," Caleb said before heading back over.

After the boys won in their respective strokes, she waited outside by the doors. She didn't want to admit it, but she kept looking around, waiting for Chase to show up and terrorize her.

But since she'd watch him take her son, he only appeared to her for short times in her dreams.

Her hands were shaking very badly and she felt scared being outside by herself.

"Riley," Caleb called to her, with the rest of the Sons behind him.

"Hey," she could only hope the smile she gave him looked real.

"You alright?" he asked, brushing a piece of stray hair behind her ear.

She gave him a look and he winced.

"I meant, have you eaten anything today?" he corrected himself.

Riley contemplated lying, but figured it would do her no good; "No."

"C'mon," Caleb grabbed her hand and could feel her hand shaking.

He stopped and picked up her chin, seeing her eyes filled with tears.

"Babe, what's wrong?" he wondered.

She just shook her head and let Caleb give her a hug.

"Baby girl, you need to keep up your energy. Let's get you something to eat, ok?" Caleb said gently, but he was met by cold eyes.

"No, I don't want any food," she snapped, "I want my fucking son back."

She tore herself away from Caleb and stood her ground.

"We're working on it, sweetie. But when we do find Chase, if you have no energy, you'll be an easy target," Tyler spoke up.

She scoffed; "You guys don't understand. That's my kid!"

"You think you're the only parent here?" Pogue spoke up, angry for her insinuating they didn't understand what she was feeling.

Riley rolled her eyes. "Please, just because you slept with me once and got me pregnant forever ago does not make you a parent! It makes you the generous sperm donor."

Pogue was hit heavily by her words and the rest of the Sons couldn't believe that she could say that with such coldness.

"Riley, you need to calm down," Reid advised; a fight in the family wasn't going to help anything.

"Fuck you, Garwin. I'll get my son back without the help of the precious Sons of Ipswich," she said angrily as she walked back towards the dorm.

"What are you doing, man? Go after her," Pogue told Caleb.

"She doesn't want me to," Caleb replied before walking sadly towards his car.

"Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We've got an angry chick and a sad leader on our hands," Reid threw up his hands in despair.

"We keep looking for information," Tyler answered, walking towards his hummer.

"Stupid boys, always thinking a girl can't do anything," Riley mumbled to herself as she unlocked her door. She threw her purse onto her bed and started to undress, taking her shirt off.

"See, I knew you were that kind of girl."

Riley yelped and turned, coming face to face with her son's kidnapper. Vaguely aware she didn't have a shirt on, Riley glared at him with her hands on her hips; instantly, her eyes were ebony colored.

"Where's my son?" she spat at him.

"He's safe, don't worry."

Riley rolled her eyes; "Yeah, ok, you only kidnapped him. Did you think I'd forget about my own flesh and blood?"

Chase only smirked and walked closer to her; "Would you like to go to him?"

"Yes," Riley answered instantly, her eyes going soft and returning to their natural color.

"Fine. Then join me," he held out his hand.

"What?" Riley tried to keep the repulsion out of her voice, but knew she failed miserably.

"I'm sure by now your precious Sons of Ipswich have told you who I am," Chase started, walking in a circle around her.

"Yeah, you're the fifth bloodline. Good for you. Now where's my son?" Riley asked, getting back on topic.

"They tried to fight me. Your little boyfriend even tried to kill me. They tried to kill my legacy so I'm taking theirs."

He reached out and touched her back, smirking when he saw her flinch.

"What are you going to do to him?" she was scared, but her voice maintained strong.

"He's still young enough to forget everything you ever told him," Chase started, standing in front of her in close proximity.

Riley wanted to ask more questions, but couldn't force her mouth to form the words. She noticed Chase's eyes were black, putting a small spell over her so she couldn't question him.

"You gave birth to the most powerful member the covenant has ever seen. You mixed the two bloodlines," Chase stated the obvious, "And now, I can raise him as my own. Between him and my own son, the last remaining members of the covenant will be taken care of."

Riley's eyes widened as the way Chase looked at her when he said "my own son."

"Gee, you are a smart girl. I figured since you gave yourself so willingly to my brother, then you'd be perfect to continue on my own bloodline."

Riley felt the need to throw up. Did he seriously think she'd be willing to have his child?

They were interrupted by a soft knocking on her door.

"Riley? Can we talk?" Pogue's voice came from the other side.

"I'll be seeing you soon, love," Chase growled in her ear before vanishing.

When Pogue heard a thud, he used to unlock the door then burst in, seeing Riley passed out on the floor.

She finally came to about twenty minutes later. And she noticed her bed was surrounded by four faces.

Riley groaned and put a hand to her head, noticing she was wearing a shirt she didn't own. And saw Caleb standing in a white beater. She smiled slightly at the gesture.

"How ya feeling, princess?" Tyler asked, giving her a water bottle.

After taking a few sips, Riley finally spoke.

"Chase was here."

Caleb's eyes flashed black on instinct; "What'd he want?"

"Oh, y'know, just to tell me that I'll be giving birth to his demon spawn."

"WHAT!" all four screamed at once and Riley put her hand on her head, feeling a major migraine coming on.

"Wait, so he wants you to.." Reid trailed off and Riley nodded.

"He didn't, did he?" Pogue asked.

"No. But he said he'd be coming back soon."

"That's it. You're coming home where I can keep an eye on you," Tyler declared, looking in her closet for her suitcase. He started opening and shutting her drawers, putting random clothes into the bag.

"Tyler! Stop!" she said, grabbing hold of the suitcase and holding it next to her.

"Nice," Reid smirked, holding up a pair of black lacey boy shorts.

"Hey, I remem-" Pogue started, then stopped. He opted for grabbing the underwear and smacking Reid upside the head.

Riley huffed and grabbed her underwear from Pogue and putting the suitcase back in the closet.

"Ok, everyone's gonna listen to me now. I'm staying here. I'm not going home. I'm not staying with one of you. I'm not," she crossed her arms defiantly.

"This is so not cool," Riley mumbled, again crossing her arms as she sat between Caleb and Reid in Tyler's hummer. They were on their way to Caleb's house, where she would be staying.

"This is the only way we can keep you safe," Caleb gently reminded her.

She was no longer angry and realized she'd been a major bitch to them.

"Guys," she started, fidgeting with her fingers, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"It's alright, sis. We understand," Tyler accepted from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, no hard feelings. Well, yet," Reid joked, smirking at her in the rearview mirror; Riley rolled her eyes at his attempt of a sexual innuendo.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back," Pogue said.

"Thanks," she smiled at him then turned towards Caleb.

"We're good," he assured her, sending her a small smile. He took her hand and laced their fingers together as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Pogue felt a pang in his heart and focused more on the task at hand: getting his son back home.

Riley was in a drug-induced sleep upstairs in the spare bedroom closest to Caleb's while the four brothers sat in Caleb's living room, each silent and trying to form a plan.

"Ok, so he knows about Logan being Pogue's. He probably thinks the same thing will happen if Riley has his child," Tyler stated.

"But Riley's already had a first son. So only Chase's blood would continue, right?" Reid countered.

"But it's Riley. And he knows it'll kill us," Pogue said.

"Caleb? What do you think?" Tyler asked as he had yet to say anything.

"I don't know," he answered, rubbing his hands over his face in exhaustion.

"So, what, we just wait until he gets her pregnant?" Pogue shot back, his frustrations evident as he jumped up from his seat.

"Man, don't you think I'd rather be doing something about this? What do you want me to do?" Caleb kept his voice low but threatening.

"Protect her, dammit. You're the only one of us she'll let protect her. Not even her own brother can get as close to her," Pogue said, his statute no longer looking mean. It was clear that Pogue was at the end of his rope.

"I will, brother," Caleb told him honestly, standing to place a hand on Pogue's shoulder, "She's safe here. Go home and get some sleep. We all need to."

Pogue nodded and left on his Ducati while Reid and Tyler went back to their dorm in the hummer.

Caleb grabbed the baby monitor that had been sitting next to his chair; the other half was in Riley's room, just in case Chase entered, Caleb would be able to hear it. He then headed upstairs, peeking in on her.

It scared him that even sleeping she looked so stressed. Her eyes were shut tightly, almost as if she were stuck in another nightmare. He knew she had them every night only because he'd witnessed it. Leaning down and brushing the hair away from her forehead, he kissed her cheek before going to his own room, sitting in bed all night long and listening to the baby monitor.

By Monday, Riley felt the urgent need to get out of Caleb's house.

Sure, it was a gorgeous house with way too much space. And she had her own bedroom, which she never slept in after that first night; the nightmares got worse and she ended up sleeping in Caleb's. And a maid and chef who would gladly do anything she needed. But Riley felt as if she were heavily imposing, no matter how much Caleb assured her she wasn't.

"Any way I can talk you out of this?" Caleb asked again, leaning against his doorframe just as Riley was pulling on her Spenser Academy blazer.

"Nope."

"Didn't think so. At least one of us will be with you all day," Caleb said as they walked downstairs and got into his car before driving off to school.

"What am I supposed to do after school?" she wondered since she wasn't allowed to drive around by herself; that rule wasn't Caleb's, but her mother's who had gotten word of the situation even while on her business trip.

"You can come with us to swim practice."

"Alright," she gave in, knowing no matter how much she argued it'd do no good.

True to their word, a Son was around her at all times. Tyler even stood outside of the girl's bathroom on their way to lunch.

At lunch, she sat between her twin and her boyfriend, who kept a protective arm around her the whole time.

Kate looked pissed before all belief. She couldn't understand why they were making that much fuss over her. Pogue hadn't told her that Logan was gone, rather that she was going through a tough time with the relocation from California.

"Well, don't you move right along," someone said from behind Riley and Caleb.

Riley turned her head and her gag reflex was almost triggered just by the sight of him.

"Go away, Abbott," Reid made a shooing motion with his hand.

"Aw, what's wrong, Garwin? Jealous Danvers got to her?" Aaron continued, standing in front of the table.

"Go to one of your whores, Aaron," Riley told him, glaring.

"But I already did," he countered.

Instantly Pogue was on his feet and in Aaron's face, holding a grip on his shirt.

"What the hell did you just call her?" Pogue spat, noticing that the Sons were right behind him.

"Oh, hit a sore spot. Well, guess what, Parry?" Aaron started then leaned in towards him, "I know your dirty little secret."

Aaron's eyes glanced over at Riley, who looked less than impressed.

"Funny she comes back with a baby after being with you freshman year, ain't it?" Aaron's voice got louder and half of the cafeteria was now listening in.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Tyler glared.

"Wanna know what I'm thinking?" Aaron said, shoving Pogue's hands off him before pointing to Riley, "I think she got pregnant with Parry's kid, ran away, then came back and got together with Danvers. Am I wrong?"

"Aaron, you're an ass. Just go away," Riley told him.

A smirk crossed his face; "So, I am right. Have fun with the Spenser slut, boys."

Caleb and Pogue both made a move towards Aaron, but Reid and Tyler held them back, barely.

"Sit down before the Provost comes out here," Riley instructed, suddenly losing her appetite for her lunch.

Kate seemed less than thrilled. Pogue had told her the truth about Riley a few days ago, but she didn't want that news all over the school. Still, the look of complete embarrassment that was on Riley's face nearly broke her heart. Nearly.

"Bet you're happy you came back now," Kate commented to Riley, earning herself glares from everyone at the table, "What?"

"Really nice, Kate," Pogue shook his head at his girlfriend.

Riley felt like she was going to have a panic attack; one look around the cafeteria told her everyone would know the news by tomorrow morning.

"Babe, do you want me to take you home?" Caleb offered.

Riley's grip on his hand tightened; "No," she shook her head, "I have to stay near you guys."

After school, Tyler and Caleb set her on the bleachers so that she could relax before going into swim practice. She started reading the book assigned for Literature, then started watching the boys practice.

"_This is a bit more interesting,"_ she thought to herself, a smirk coming onto her face.

"Hey Riley, come give your big brother a hug!" Tyler yelled, coming closer to her.

"Hell no! You're soaking wet!" she yelled back. She yelped when he reached for her; she tried to escape him but it was no use.

"Tyler, you suck!" she screamed through her laughter then noticed her brother was taking her closer to the edge, "NO! Brother, c'mon, let's talk about this!"

"Caleb, come grab her legs!" Tyler called over.

"Hell no, man. She'd kill me," Caleb held up his hands, but did nothing to help and continued laughing.

"Reid!" Tyler yelled; his best friend appeared and Tyler held onto her arms as Reid held her legs.

They started swinging her, getting closer to the edge.

"Guys! Don't!" Riley tried as they started counting to three.

On three, she was flung into the water and nearly hit the lane separators.

"You guys suck and I hate you" was the first words out of Riley's mouth once she resurfaced.

Her clothes stuck to her, which probably isn't the best thing when you're wearing a white shirt and a blue bra.

"Boys, I think blue just became my favorite color," Reid chuckled as Riley climbed out of the pool.

Caleb fake laughed, pushing Reid back into the pool, towel and all.

"Payback's a bitch," Riley stuck her tongue out at him as Caleb held out a towel, "Oh, and I hate you too."

"Me? I didn't do anything?" Caleb said, pointing to Reid and Tyler.

"Exactly. You let them throw me in," she reminded him.

"Oh, you're so going back in," Caleb told her, tearing away the towel and picking her up bridal style.

"Caleb, no!" she screeched.

What Caleb didn't expect when he went to throw her in was that she'd have such a tight grip on him that he had no choice but go in as well.

They were laughing when they resurfaced; Caleb had his arms around her waist.

She gave him a quick kiss then got out of the pool.

"Hurry up, Danvers. I gotta change clothes before I catch a cold," she said, wrapping herself in a towel.

While she waited for the boys to get changed, she hugged the towel closer to herself. She knew the motivation behind throwing her into the pool; they were working towards getting her mind off of Logan, even for a second. She was grateful for such great people in her life.

"Let's get out of here," Caleb came out of the building with a smile on his face and held her hand, leading the way to the car.

That night, as Riley laid with Caleb's arms around her waist, she had a weird feeling around her. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, her eyes settling on Caleb's desk.

Where Chase sat with a smile.

She moved to shake Caleb awake, but Chase's voice stopped her; "Oh, trust me. That's not going to help. He can't hear or feel anything."

"What do you want?" she demanded, putting on a brave face.

"It's time," he told her simply, shrugging a shoulder.

"I'm not interested in birthing your spawn," Riley replied.

"And I'm not interested in anything you have to say," Chase retorted, walking across the room until he was in front of her. He yanked her off the bed by her arms.

"I'll abort it," she threatened viciously.

Chase smirked.

"No, you won't. Because, see, if you did, two thing would happen," he started, positioning his grip tightly around her upper arms as he stood behind her and spoke into her ear, "One, I'd be forced to do it again and it wouldn't be very pleasant for you. Two, I would murder every single one of your friends and family, along with making it seem like you did it."

Riley couldn't believe her ears; she really had no way out.

"You choose; easy way or hard way," Chase laid out her options.

"Do I get my son back?" she asked, turning her head until her green eyes could meet his black ones.

"Of course. He'll be living with us with our son," he replied, putting a splayed hand against her stomach.

She felt the bile rise in her throat as he kissed her neck.

Caleb moved his arm and, upon not feeling Riley there, started stirring.

"Hmm, we'll continue this again. Don't worry."

With that, Chase disappeared and Riley rushed to the connected bathroom, emptying her stomach.

"Ly? You ok?" Caleb appeared behind her, holding back her hair and rubbing her back.

She shook her head and flushed the toilet, rinsing out her mouth with water from the sink and started to brush her teeth.

"What's wrong?" Caleb hugged her from behind, letting his hands rest on her stomach.

The similar touch brought tears to Riley's eyes suddenly.

Instantly, Caleb went into protective mode.

"He was here, wasn't he?"

She only nodded, finished with brushing her teeth.

"What'd he say?" Caleb demanded to know, turning her so they were face to face.

Riley shrugged a shoulder; "Same deal. Now he's saying if I don't, he'll kill all my friends and family and make it seem like I did it."

"And if you do go?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I get my son back, Caleb. That's looking rather appealing right now," she told him honestly before leaving the bathroom.

"What! Riley, you can't be serious! He wants you to have his child."

"In exchange for making sure everyone is safe and I'm with Logan, I think that's worth it."

"He'll end up killing you," Caleb told her as she climbed back into his bed.

She sighed.

"I know," she whispered, "But he can't for at least nine months when I'm pregnant. That'll give me time to figure out how to get Logan to you guys."

"Honey, I'm sorry, but what have you lost your damn mind?!" Caleb wondered, looking at her like she had grown another head.

"Caleb, I won't lose my family. Simple as that."

Caleb sighed, climbing back into the bed. He needed to figure out a way to keep Riley safe and away from Chase.

She'd already left his life once. If he didn't act quickly, she'd leave permanently.


	8. Her Choices

**A/N:** Remember, the drama is **never** over with me. Only fuel to the fire. I can't believe in four days I have over two thousand hits. That's a huge deal to me. Thank you to everyone, reviewers or just avid readers. On a side note, every time I turn my tv to the Starz channel, The Covenant is playing. It's a sign to keep writing, I swear. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Her Choices

Riley wasn't next to Caleb when he woke up the next morning. She wasn't in her room, or any other.

He noticed that everything of hers was gone. Nobody had seen her in the house, not the chef, nor the maid, or even his mother.

After numerous calls to her cell phone, and getting the voicemail service every time, he called Tyler, Reid, and Pogue.

Tyler came running into Caleb's house fifteen minutes later, not bothering to knock. He was followed closely by the other two.

"What do you mean she's not here?!" Tyler demanded, looking around frantically, hoping Riley would jump out with a "Gotcha!"

"When I woke up, she wasn't here. All her stuff's gone too," Caleb told them.

"Why would she leave? You guys have a fight or something?" Reid asked cautiously, trying to calm down his best friend.

Caleb sat down and ran a hand through his short black hair.

"What? Spit it out, man," Pogue encouraged.

Caleb told his brothers of what Chase had done and said to Riley.

"So now," he continued, "She thinks it's the only way she can protect us."

"That's ridiculous!" Tyler exclaimed.

Caleb shrugged a shoulder.

"Yeah, but Riley's so stubborn. She wouldn't have listened anyway," Pogue stated.

"How about we figure out where she is? Any ideas?" Reid asked.

The Sons all concentrated on where she could be at, never minding the fact she could be with Chase.

"The cliffs in the Dells. It's her favorite place," Tyler suddenly thought.

They all ran to Tyler's Hummer before speeding off.

What awaited them at their destination was sending shivers up their spines.

Logan was in Riley's arms. Riley was in Chase's.

But what shocked them? She didn't look scared. She was smiling. Genuinely smiling.

They got out of the truck and rushed towards Riley, but Chase's eyes flashed black and the Sons found themselves unable to move their feet.

"Hello, brothers," Chase greeted with a smirk, "You seem so anxious to see us."

"Riley! Are you ok?" Tyler called to his sister, who smiled even wide.

"I'm just perfect, baby boy," she returned, "I've got my family with me."

Caleb was repulsed as Chase tightened his grip on Riley, then moved her hair to plant a kiss on her neck.

"Aw, what's wrong, Caleb? You look so sad, brother," Chase's voice held anything but worry and sympathy.

"Get away from her," Caleb spat back.

"You mean, from Riley? My future wife and mother of my child?" Chase corrected, splaying a hand over Riley's lower stomach; she responded by putting her hand on his, lacing their fingers together.

"Chase, I'm gonna fucking kill you," Tyler promised.

"Such hostility," Chase shook his head.

Riley mimicked his actions, then flashed a grin to Tyler.

"Dude, that is not my sister," Tyler told the others.

"How can you tell?" Reid asked.

"Yeah, enlighten us," Chase seconded, then pulled Riley's face to his own with a tender force.

When they parted, they looked at the Sons, and smirked.

"Tastes like your sister," Chase commented smugly.

"Ok, there's the fact Riley wouldn't do that willingly," Tyler started, "And her eyes are brown."

"So?" Reid asked, not getting it.

"Riley's got green eyes," Caleb said.

Riley pulled Chase in for another kiss; she turned so her body was facing the boys. They noticed her eyes were open and black.

"She's distracting him. Run!" Caleb ordered in a hushed tone.

When they were close enough, Riley balanced Logan in the air, sending him straight to his uncle's arms.

"Tyler, get him out of here," Caleb told him; Tyler nodded and took off.

Once Riley saw Tyler safely away, she bit down hard on Chase's tongue.

"Ouch," he said, pulling away, "Rough, huh? There'll be plenty of time for that."

"Yeah," she leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "But not with you."

She ran out of his grip, right into Caleb's arms.

"Anyone got any Listerine?" Riley wondered, wiping at her lips repeatedly.

Chase didn't need an explanation; he was beyond pissed and threw three energy balls at Riley in rapid recession.

Caleb threw them off, protecting her.

"You can't protect her," Chase growled.

"And you can't have her," Caleb snapped back.

Meanwhile, Pogue looked over Riley quickly for injuries.

"I'm okay," she said, swatting his hands away.

"Would you die for her, brother?" Chase stepped forward, throwing another ball at Caleb, who deflected it.

Reid and Pogue helped Caleb, throwing their own energy balls but Chase simply stepped out of their paths.

"Would you?" Chase grabbed Caleb's attention as his eyes flashed; Riley couldn't breathe and kept gasping for air, holding onto her neck.

"Yes!" Caleb yelled.

"We all would!" Reid added; Pogue nodded.

Riley was raised high over their heads by her neck, dangling over the edge as she continued to suffocate.

"RILEY!"

Caleb couldn't get much closer, as Chase kept firing energy balls.

The three Sons focused on Chase and managed to start to gain on him. Chase fell to one knee, still fighting them off. With a wave of his hand, Chase pushed Reid against a tree, then the same to Pogue.

"Don't worry, Caleb. I'll take good care of her," Chase paused, "For nine months, at least."

"Bastard!" Caleb yelled, forming a huge energy ball between his hands.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Chase warned him, "You hurt me and I might let your Riley fall."

Caleb instantly made the ball disappear.

"Thought so," Chase smirked, "As much fun this has been, I must be going. You said you'd die for her, brother. Could you save her before she dies because of you?"

With that, Chase disappeared. Caleb, thinking quickly, used what was left of his power to stop Riley before she crashed onto the sharp rocks below her. He managed to levitate her back over the side, catching her.

"You're safe," he told her, hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry" was all she could say.

"C'mon, your family is waiting."

Caleb helped up Pogue while Reid was helped by Riley.

Tyler was sitting in the trunk of the Hummer, watching Logan sleep beside him.

"Tyler," came Riley's voice; the twins hugged before she saw her sleeping son.

She nearly cried as she kissed his forehead.

"Let's get you home. You can explain later," Caleb ushered everyone into the truck.

Riley passed out between Caleb and Pogue on the way back; she leaned her head against Pogue's shoulder while Caleb held onto a sleeping Logan.

"You get him, I'll grab her," Pogue whispered when they pulled into Caleb's driveway.

Pogue carried Riley bridal style; she reacted by putting an arm around his neck and laying her head near his collarbone. She breathed in the scent, recognizing it instantly and smiling to herself.

"Pogue, I love you," she murmured.

Unfortunately, Pogue was outside Caleb's door. And Caleb was standing in the doorway.

"She's just tired, probably doesn't realize what she's saying," Pogue said sheepishly, handing her over to Caleb.

He put her in his bed, giving her cheek a kiss and glanced at Logan in his bed from the Sims' house; the toddler was still sleeping.

"Um, if you guys wanna stay, eat lunch, sleep, whatever, you're more than welcome," Caleb offered.

"Alright, thanks," Pogue told his brother, shutting the door behind him when he left.

Caleb undressed to his boxers and slid in beside Riley, wrapping his arms around her securely. She responded by leaning her back against his chest.

After sleeping for a while, Riley finally woke up; the clock read 6:30 pm. She carefully slipped out of Caleb's grip. After making sure Logan was sleeping, which he was, she decided to take a long, hot shower.

After rolling up a pair of Caleb's boxers so they almost fit and throwing on one of his shirts, she tippy-toed downstairs.

Reid and Tyler were playing video games in one room. Without saying a word, she kissed their cheeks.

"What was that for?" Tyler asked.

She shrugged a shoulder; "Grateful."

"Well, if you wanna show you're grateful-" Reid was cut off by Riley putting a hand over his mouth.

"Don't ruin it."

He nodded and she walked towards the kitchen, feeling her stomach growl. She pushed open the door and saw Pogue making pancakes. She felt him flinch when she wrapped her arms around his waist, then he relaxed.

"You alright?" he asked without turning around, flipping a pancake.

She let go of him, shrugged a shoulder, and jumped onto the counter beside the oven.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't think there's enough Listerine in the world to make me completely clean," she joked, making Pogue chuckle.

"Thank you for what you did, Pogue," she said seriously.

"Of course, Riley. You know I wouldn't think twice of it," Pogue responded.

Riley smiled, then her stomach rumbled again.

Pogue chuckled, handing her a cooked pancake from the stack he had going.

"Thanks," she replied before eating it happily.

"Riley?!" Caleb's panicked voice rang through the mansion.

"Whoops," she mumbled, jumping off the counter and meeting him just outside the kitchen.

"Hey, wake me up before you disappear," Caleb said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Sorry," she returned sheepishly.

Caleb forgot about talking and kissed his girlfriend roughly.

"Aw, man, c'mon. That's my sister," Tyler groaned.

They finally parted, each with a huge smile.

"Well, she is wearing his clothes, baby boy," Reid pointed out.

Tyler groaned again; "Don't remind me."

Reid laughed pushing Tyler towards the kitchen.

"I'll get Logan, you eat," Caleb nudged her.

She agreed, gave him another kiss, then went to eat.

After her dinner version of breakfast, they sat in the living room. Riley sat between Reid and Pogue on the couch as Logan had Tyler and Caleb playing with him on the floor.

"You ready to explain?" Reid wondered, putting a hand on her bare knee.

"Unless you're still tired, Ly," Caleb added.

She shook her head; "No, it's alright. Help me put Logan to bed first."

"C'mon, big guy. Time to go night-night," Caleb said, picking up the toddler and following Riley upstairs.

"Night, Logan," Riley told her son, kissing his head before putting him into his bed.

"Night, Mommy. Night, Daddy," Logan said just as Riley hit the light.

Caleb looked at her, expecting her to correct Logan. But she simply shrugged and returned downstairs.

Riley sat in an overstuffed chair, curling a leg under her.

"Chase came to me last night," she began, "He wanted my decision. I had just gotten in a fight with Caleb over it. But I'm stubborn to a fault. And Chase had Logan in his arms."

She paused to take a big breath; Caleb reached over from the chair beside hers and gave her leg a reassuring squeeze, letting her continue.

"So I went, packed up all my stuff. He kept us in the Putnam house. God, it was weird. The inside looked brand-new, like the house was just built. He had everything to take care of Logan. He told me we'd get married right after I ascend and that I'd be pregnant by then," she sniffled.

"If you ascend while you're pregnant, your power would surge through the baby's blood," Caleb pointed out.

"So the baby would have both parents' powers," Reid concluded, "What a smart son of a bitch. Evil as fuck, but smart."

Pogue was anxious to have one question answered.

"Did he?" The question was vague, but they all knew the meaning.

Riley rolled her eyes; "Chase is such an idiot. You can't get a teenager mother twice."

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.

"Diaphragm and the Pill. There's not a chance of me carrying the spawn of the Putnam bloodline."

"Wait, you had sex with Chase?" Pogue's obvious distain was clear.

"I had to play the part if it was gonna work. I knew you guys would come for me. That helped a lot," she said, fidgeting with her fingers.

"Why'd you change your eye color?" Reid spoke up, trying to lean away from the sex subject, for once.

"I don't know. If it wasn't me, it wasn't real, I guess. And so that you guys would know something was wrong."

"Nice plan, baby girl. Next time, something more that the whole covenant knows and something less 'my girlfriend having sex with our enemy', alright?" Caleb requested, smiling.

She returned the smile, nodding; "Don't worry. I promise."

"Well, now that's settled," Reid stood up, "How 'bout a few games at Nicky's?"

"Sure, man," Tyler answered, also standing.

"Not me. I gotta go see Kate," Pogue told them; he gave Riley a hug and nods towards his brothers before leaving.

"Ly, Caleb?" Reid asked.

"Not tonight, man," Caleb answered for the both of them.

"Alright, see you guys tomorrow," Tyler kissed his sister's cheek after Reid did and both left.

"Do you want anything?" Caleb asked softly, holding her hand.

"No, I'm fine. I think I'm gonna go upstairs and read," she said, walking upstairs.

"Caleb," she called to him, turning around in the middle of the staircase.

"Yeah, Ly?" he responded, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you for being my knight in.. a Spenser Academy blazer," she chuckled.

"Anytime. I'll be up in a bit," he replied, watching her walk the rest of the stairs.

True to his word, Caleb came into his room about two hours later. He found her reading in bed, leaning against the headboard.

"Can I ask you something?" Riley started gently, closing her book.

"Of course. You know you can ask me anything," Caleb said, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Who's Sarah?"

The question caught Caleb completely off guard. To say the very least.

"What? How do you know about Sarah?" Caleb averted her question.

She shrugged a shoulder; "Chase said I was a better prize than Sarah. Who is she?"

Caleb sighed; "She's my ex-girlfriend." Then he told her the whole story.

"And she left?"

"Her dad died, so she transferred out," he explained.

"And.. she knew?" Riley couldn't believe it; they all knew the rules..

"Yeah," Caleb confirmed, "But she'd never tell."

"Caleb, you of all people know the rules of the covenant. You're only supposed to tell your spouse," Riley said.

Caleb sighed, running a hand through his hair; "Yeah, I know that, Ly."

"So, you have to marry her," she concluded.

"Not necessarily, Ly. She can keep the secret," Caleb swore.

"Um, do you mind if I go for a drive?" Riley suddenly felt weird being in the same room as him.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I just need to clear my head," she said, throwing on her pants over the boxers.

"Sure. I'll watch Logan."

She grabbed his keys off the dresser and said "Thanks" before leaving the Danvers mansion. She got into the Mustang and drove, not realizing where she was until she standing outside in the rain, knocking.

"Riley, what're you doing here?"

She walked into the apartment without saying a word, dripping all over the carpet.

"Riley, does he know you're-"

"Shut up, Pogue. Please, just for tonight."

Pogue nodded and hugged her.

"I missed you," Riley mumbled into his collarbone. He went to question what she meant, but was stopped by Riley kissing him.

"Ri-"

"He doesn't love me, Pogue. When I asked about Sarah, his eyes.. He's in love with her. She knows, he has to marry her."

"This won't help."

"I only want a temporary fix. I can't handle much more," Riley told him honestly.

Pogue only nodded and kissed her, lifting her so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

Riley lay in the bed, exhausted and short of breath, with Pogue next to her. She was contemplating leaving, only because she swore she'd heard Pogue tell her he loved her sometime mid-coitus. That had been when the guilt started, but by that time, she was past the point of no return.

"Is this where I belong?" she asked him after catching her breath.

"Only you know that answer, Ly. Would I love to have a family, you, me and Logan? Yes, but that's me being selfish and not taking anybody else's emotions into the mix. A lot of people would be affected by that. Ultimately, it comes down to you. It's a decision only you can make," Pogue said, kissing her bare shoulder, "If you want to go there, then fine. I wouldn't mind."

"Kate?"

"She doesn't know. Nothing's written in stone." He always did have the best answers to her questions.

"Can I stay here tonight?"

"Stay forever," he countered before he fell asleep with Riley's head on his chest. She wouldn't even try to sleep; she knew she wouldn't be able to, not when she had to face Caleb tomorrow at school.

This much guilt causes major insomnia.

**A/N2: **What? I couldn't help it! Besides, who wouldn't wanna be in Riley's place? Jeez. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow morning, if I'm really lucky. Lemme know what you thought!


	9. Broken Wings

**A/N:** This chapter came earlier than expected, but the next one won't be for a bit. But it will be up! Thanks to all. Anyone who reviews my story, I'll gladly read yours and do the same. I think that's the only fair thing to do. As always, enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter Nine:

Broken Wings

Riley left the next morning before Pogue was awake, heading back to Caleb's house.

'_Well.. now or never,'_ she thought, parking the mustang and going into the mansion.

"Riley? Is that you?" Caleb called out upon hearing the door close.

"Yeah, it's me," she yelled back.

"Where'd you go?" he appeared with Logan on his hip.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be gone all night."

"It's fine. He was happy to deal with me, right, Logan?"

"White, Daddy," Logan answered in his baby babble.

Riley's heart felt like it'd been stepped on with Logan's words.

"You going to school?" Caleb asked.

"Um, yeah, just gonna take a shower," she told him, quickly going upstairs.

She saw her suitcase on the bed when she came out of the bathroom, freshly showered. Putting on the school uniform, she found Caleb in the next room over, playing with Logan.

"Do you need me to call our nanny?" Riley asked.

Caleb shook his head; "No. Tyler already did. She'll be here in 15 minutes. My mom can watch him 'til then."

"Ok. I'll meet you downstairs."

Riley didn't exactly see eye to eye with Evelyn Danvers. When Riley got pregnant, Evelyn had called Logan an abomination, poisoning the bloodlines. She wasn't Riley's favorite person after that and vice versa. Now that Riley and Logan had temporarily taken residency in the Danvers' household, Evelyn was never around.

School was uncomfortable beyond compare. Caleb had noticed something was off with Riley, but figured it was because of the whole Chase situation. And Pogue's constant glances towards Riley weren't helping her, either.

Literature could only be described as cruel and unusual.

She sat between Caleb and Pogue, trying to ignore both. It started getting weird when Caleb put his hand on her leg. It got worse when Pogue's hand went to the other.

'_Oh, kill me now.'_

She practically ran when the bell sounded, never stopping, especially when Caleb called after her.

"So, what's wrong, baby girl?" Reid confronted her by her locker; the others weren't there yet.

"What do you mean?" Riley wouldn't meet his gaze.

He pushed her chin up, forcing her to look at him.

"Holy shit, you had sex," Reid said, obviously impressed.

Riley's eyes widened and got out of his grasp, looking into her locker.

"No I didn't," she denied.

"Ly, it's me. Reid. You think I can't tell?" he dared, speaking low, "So, was it Caleb?"

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Tyler greeted.

"Nothing," Riley answered, sending a pointed look towards Reid, who kept his mouth shut.

When she was walking to her dorm, she felt relief; she'd made it through the whole day without talking to..

"Caleb?"

'_..Dammit.'_

There he was, waiting outside her dorm room, skipping swim practice. That, and the look on his face, told her there was a serious reason why he was there. She could guess what it was about.

"Who is he?" was all he said as she unlocked her door; he followed and shut the door.

"Who's who?" she played dumb and Caleb saw through it.

"You weren't here last night."

"Says who?"

"What time did I stop by?"

'_Busted.'_

Riley sighed, sitting on the bed.

"I was sleeping, I don't k-" she gave up on her sentence. She was already caught in one lie, why go for another?

"Reid looked at me ten minutes ago with a smirk. I asked him why, he patted my shoulder and said 'For landing the m.i.l.f.'."

His eyes were cloudy and his anger flashed every once in a while. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.

"I know I shouldn't have told Sarah, but she was in danger and needed to know what was going on. You should've known about her from the start. I'm sorry for that."

Her head snapped when she head the last sentence; "Why are you sorry? You've done nothing wrong."

"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten you involved with me. You told me it'd be a bad idea, but I didn't listen. God, I was so in love with you."

Riley's heart swelled then shattered. He said "was."

"It was Pogue, huh?" Now he sounded calm; that terrified her. Why couldn't he just scream at her like a normal guy?

"I don't hate you, Riley, for being with Pogue. I wish I could, but I just can't. I've known you since forever and I can't imagine my life without you in it. I'm sorry for keeping you away from who you belong with."

"Caleb, that's not true!" she objected, near tears.

"Ly, what do you want me to believe?"

"It was a mistake," she said softly, no longer able to look at him. She was full of shame and guilt.

"Is that all? Because it's happened before and-"

"Yeah, and you decided to get a new girl right after the last one. And how dare you bring Logan into this. He's the best thing I've ever done."

Caleb sighed; "Sorry, but I'm really hurt here."

"I know. And I was really hurt last night."

Now, he understood. She wasn't being menacing or deceiving; she was simply hurt and had every right to be.

"Who do you wanna be with, Riley?" Caleb put the question out there.

"I don't know," she said honestly, "I wish I did. I love you, I really do. But with Pogue, there's familiarity and a lot of old feelings. Not to mention Logan."

"When you know, I'll be around, ok?" Caleb said, kissing her cheek.

"Oh, Riley?"

"Yeah?" she looked at him as he stood in the doorway.

"Earlier, when I said I had been in love with you.."

"Yeah?" she repeated, almost looking hopeful.

"I lied."

Riley's face fell and she felt horrible.

"I still am in love with you," Caleb corrected before leaving.

Even with his confession, Riley felt like crying. She'd slept with Pogue, of all people, when her heart belonged to Caleb.

How could she mess up that badly?

About five minutes later, she realized Logan was at the Danvers' house and she had no car at the dorms.

'_Could this day get anymore fucked up?'_ she thought bitterly, groaning and laying on her bed.

In between contemplating going back to California and reliving the painful look in Caleb's eyes, Riley fell asleep. She woke up at 2 in the morning. Caleb had called hours ago, telling her not to worry about Logan. She trusted him, so that wasn't a problem.

She heard a light knocking at her door.

'_Who the hell?'_

Biting back a groan, she opened the door and invited the person in.

"Look, I've been thinking about this. We gotta come clean, Riley. People are gonna know-"

"Caleb knows, Pogue," she cut in.

"You told him?" Pogue was surprised.

"He already knew."

"Oh," he looked relieved.

"Did you tell Kate?" Hell, if her life was ruined, why not his too?

"Um, not exactly.."

"Pogue, what happened?" she demanded, too tired to play games, especially not at 2 a.m.

"Um, I kinda ended up.. proposing."

Riley experienced a knee-jerk reaction. And slapped Pogue.

"What the fuck!" she yelled.

"I know, it's messed up. I didn't mean to! I started mumbling and she heard certain things. Then she said yes and started jumping around, hugging me."

"What were you mumbling?" she asked calmly.

"That I wanted you and me to be a family."

"So, what're you gonna do?" she sat on her bed as he leaned against her desk.

"I don't know. How do you break someone's heart when they love you?"

"Sleep with their best friend," she answered with a sad look.

"Do you think you two will work it out?" Pogue wondered, crossing his arms.

"I don't know; I really hurt him. I haven't forgiven me, how can I expect him to?" she sniffled and Pogue crossed the room to the bed, pulling her into his arms and letting her cry quietly against his shirt.

"Riley, answer me honestly. Do you regret it?"

She looked up, wiping at her eyes; "Pogue, you know I love you. I always have. Logan's a product of that love. But.."

"I'm not Caleb," he concluded, nodding his head.

"I know you. I know you're the safe choice. We could get married, raise Logan. And I know we'd be happy. But with Caleb.. I'm dizzy around him. We fight so badly, but then he smiles at me and I forget why I was mad in the first place. He makes me happy. I wanna wake up in the morning and see him, y'know? I can't help it," she said, shaking her head at herself. When did she fall so hard?

Pogue smiled sadly and kissed her cheek before getting up from the bed.

"He'll come around, Riley. Just give him time," Pogue promised.

Snow on the ground outside told Riley what she doesn't want to know. It was already the second week of December and she was still alone. She and Caleb hadn't talked since. Their relationship was reduced to a few mumbled greetings and him asking to baby-sit Logan twice a week. Even in the classes they had together, he chose to sit on the opposite side of the room. In exchange, she started eating her lunch in the library.

She knew it was awkward for the rest of the Sons, but she really couldn't feel too badly for them. Not when her heart was constantly hurting.

Riley was back at the Sims household for good, giving up her dorm room to be close to Logan, who was starting to get confused why his mommy and "daddy" were never in the same room together.

She still had nightmares sometimes about Chase and got paranoid when she was alone, but she would never admit it to her twin or the Sons. The last thing she needed was attention.

"Riley, you need to go out more. Come with us to Nicky's tonight. Everybody misses you." Tyler's usual argument on Friday nights at 6:30 p.m. Riley had come to look forward to it.

"No, I'll just study tonight. I'm really tired" came her usual reply, playing with Logan in his bedroom.

"Ly, this has got to stop. You're being antisocial."

Usually, with her tired excuse, Tyler shook his head and walked away.

'_I guess he wants to argue tonight.'_

"I'm not antisocial. I go to school. I talk in class. I speak to you and Reid all the time. I play with my kid. See? I'm fine," she insisted.

"No, you're not. You're heartbroken still."

"If my heart was broken, Tyler, I'd be dead," she sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes.

"You know what I mean, Ly. You're hurting because of," he stopped, looking at his nephew and knowing he was listening into the conversation, "C-a-l-e-b."

"So what if I am? He seems happy," she added bitterly.

"He's faking it," Tyler sighed heavily, "Just like you are. Riley, please do this for me."

She thought it over; "But I don't have a babysitter."

"Mom said she'd watch him; she's in her room."

"Can you watch him so I can get ready?" she wondered, finally giving in.

"Of course. Now, go." Tyler would've agreed to anything at that point, just to have her go.

Riley changed into tight black pants, a black corset top with red flowers on it, and black boots.

"You look beautiful," Tyler praised after they gave Elizabeth her grandson and were in the hummer.

"Thanks," she replied, but was rethinking her choice of shirt as she hugged her black jacket closer, trying to warm up some more.

"We don't have to stay very long," Tyler promised as he parked, "Just long enough to have a few drinks and play a few games with Reid and me."

"Alright. Let's get it over with."

Knowing how uncomfortable she must've felt, Tyler maneuvered her straight to the pool tables, where Reid was hustling Aaron and two of his friends.

"Hey baby girl," Reid greeted, giving her cheek a kiss as she peeled off her jacket and threw it on a nearby chair.

"Come over to play with the big boys, little girl?" Aaron taunted.

She flashed him an unexpected smile; "Not tonight, Aaron. I came here to play some pool."

"Well now, c'mon boys. Don't keep the lady waiting," Reid said, winning the last game before starting to set up another.

"Me and Ryan versus you and the girl," Aaron laid out the rules.

"Fine," Riley agreed.

"Ladies first," Ryan teased as Riley got a pool stick.

"Absolutely. Go ahead, Aaron," Riley returned, smirking. Reid laughed, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm so proud," Reid told her, wiping away an imaginary tear.

Aaron huffed, but took his shot nonetheless.

After Reid and Riley won over Aaron and Ryan, she wanted to dance.

"Please, Tyler?" she begged her brother.

"Uh, no, Ly," Tyler shook his head, "I have no ambition to humiliate myself in front of a large crowd."

"I'll dance with ya," Reid said, handing Tyler his pool stick and grabbing her hand, leading her towards the jukebox.

"Pick a song, sweetie," he told her, dropping in a quarter.

Alright, so it was a vengeful choice. But seeing Caleb there, a blond on his arm, and Pogue and Kate yet again celebrating their recent, and accidental, engagement.. something snapped in Riley's head and she couldn't help herself when she pushed "F", followed quickly by "8".

"Oh, they're gonna be pissed," Reid joked, starting to dance with her.

"Why?" she feigned innocence as she saw their heads turn, "It's my song to begin with."

"Only because it reminds Pogue of you," Reid said.

"That's not why. Pogue and I.. see, when we.. um, y'know..." She stumbled through her explanation, but Reid got it.

He chuckled, shaking his head; "Of course you'd lose it to a cheesy 80's song."

He got himself a smack upside the head.

"Shut it."

They continued to dance until the song's end. By that time, two sets of eyes were boring into Riley and Reid.

"I think you're in trouble," Reid said, only half joking.

"I'm always in trouble," she rolled her eyes.

She made the mistake of looking over in their direction. Caleb was staring at her, but his expression wasn't giving any clues as to what he was thinking.

"Talk to him. Put us all out of our misery," Reid pleaded, kissing her hand before leaving her on the dance floor to play some pool.

Caleb took that as an invitation to come over as she put another quarter into the jukebox, busying herself as she looked through the songs.

"Hey Ly."

She froze for a few seconds, then continued flipping through songs. She heard him sigh.

"I figured you wouldn't talk to me, but shit, Riley. At least let me know how you're feeling, if you're ok.."

She smirked, finding the perfect song.

"Does this answer your question?" she asked, walking away as Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" played.

"Tyler, we're leaving," she dragged her brother from the pool table.

He grabbed their jackets and met her outside, seeing she had used to unlock her door and was sitting in the passenger seat already.

"Well, that was fun" was the only thing Tyler said the whole ride home; Riley remained silent.

Her phone was blowing up that night with multiple calls and texts from Pogue and Caleb. She didn't return one.

"Riley, you have to go," Tyler said with authority.

"I don't have to do shit. I'm the outsider, remember? The one who wasn't supposed to have the power," she quipped back.

"But it's a covenant meeting. Even Logan has to go."

"What?" she looked at her brother, "Of course. That's why he wanted to baby-sit tonight. Sneaky bastard."

"Riley, c'mon," Tyler pleaded. He was told to get her to the meeting; they didn't tell him how he was supposed to go about that impossible task.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"You're mean."

"You sound surprised," Riley replied, crossing her arms as she sat on her bed, daring him to try to get her to move.

"Riley, you have to go. You can hate all of us, but the fact is that you're still part of the covenant. And when there's a covenant meeting, you are obligated, by your bloodline, to go. So quit your damn pouting, get your jacket, and let's fucking go!" Both twins were surprised at how dominating he sounded.

She huffed, got her jacket on, and dutifully followed Tyler out of the door and into the freezing cold Massachusetts weather.

"I miss California," she grumbled as her toes felt like they were frozen.

They got to the Danvers' colony house minutes later; she saw everyone was there already and felt nervous.

"Don't worry, sis. They're not mad," Tyler said, relieved to get her walking down the stone stairway.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?! Of course he's going to come back! It's kinda what he does, if you haven't noticed! You have to stay in Ipswich!" Caleb ranted after she had asked to go to California. With everything that was happening in their personal lives, she wanted to spend Christmas with her Aunt Judy and take Logan along with her. She hadn't exactly "asked", more like told, but was respectful about it. Until Caleb verbally attacked her, holding her son, who had a spell over him not to hear the conversation and play peacefully.

'_Yeah, they ain't pissed at me,'_ Riley thought bitterly, sending a pointed look at her brother, who held up his hands in innocence.

"It isn't safe for you to go cross country with Logan, or even by yourself. You'd have nobody to protect you," Pogue said, taking the kinder approach once Caleb had stopped talking.

Riley rolled her eyes at that; "I was fine for two years. Two goddamn years I took care of him by myself and nothing happened. I come back here and it's hell on Earth. Gee, what great protection."

"Riley, Chase will follow you to California. Do you really want that? Especially somewhere with no member of your covenant with you?" Reid asked softly as he was sitting beside her.

"Nobody to constantly watch what I do, what I say, how often I use, or the way I choose to raise my son?" she forged contemplation, "Sounds perfect."

"This is not a discussion."

Riley glared at Caleb; "I don't remember asking your opinion, oh mighty leader."

"I can't risk it, Riley. I won't," Caleb told her honestly, his eyes were considerably softer and he almost sounded like he was pleading with her.

Riley stood up, taking Logan from Caleb and looking at the members of the covenant.

"Well, I guess it's time to be truthful. I'm not just going back for the holidays. I can't stand it here anymore and I don't want my son in this environment. So I'm taking Logan and we're moving back to California."


	10. Surprise

**A/N:** Thanks to all who read and reviewed. I know I haven't updated in forever. I'll get back into the groove of things. This chapter is just to get things going and will be shorter than normal. Enjoy.

Chapter Ten

Surprise

Upon hearing Riley's confession, Pogue and Caleb were instantly on their feet, objecting.

"What are you talking about? You can't leave!" Pogue yelled, then started to rant off the reasons why as Caleb started his own ranting.

"Are you really going to just take him and leave?" Caleb asked, speaking over Pogue.

"Guys! Stop!" Riley silenced the both of them, then sighed when they did, "Thank you. Now, first of all, I can do whatever I want. I plan on talking to Provost Higgins on Monday morning to make sure all my credits will transfer back. And I've already called Aunt Judy; she said it's not a problem. Half of my stuff is still there anyway."

"But Logan.. I.." Pogue started, but couldn't find the words. His eyes were starting to water. He'd just met his son a few months ago, now she wanted to take him away again. This time for good.

"I know, Pogue. You can always come visit us in California," Riley offered, trying to smile but knowing it wasn't working well.

"So, that's it then? You just pack up and leave because you feel like it?" Tyler's voice was soft, but full of anger and sadness.

Riley's heart broke a little at the look on his face; "I'm sorry. I'm not doing this to hurt you, Ty. I have to do this, for both me and my son. You're not losing me, y'know."

"The rest of us don't know that," Caleb countered, making Riley bring her gaze to him.

She sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"Caleb, you lost me before I ever wanted to go back."

His response was only a raised eyebrow and a curious look, so Riley continued.

"Did you seriously think I'd see her and not be able to put the pieces together? Jeez. Give me some credit. I know what it looks like when the boy you love wants to move on."

Pogue winced at her words, obviously referencing him, but remained silent.

As if on cue, another body appeared after walking down the stone steps.

Riley's jaw hit the floor and she gawked at the sight in front of her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she finally found her voice, turning a cold glare towards Caleb, "My God, do you not understand what "secret" means? You gonna tell every single girl you happen to date?! Christ!"

"Riley, calm down. She's not here for what you think. She's here to.." Caleb started but stopped when the other female cut him off.

"Caleb," she quieted him before turning to face Riley, "I came here to tell you what's really going on. I know you've already heard about the past me and Caleb have.."

Riley scoffed; "No, see, I have history with these guys. I've known them for years. You've known them for months. It's a bit different."

"Nonetheless. I've been attacked by Chase before; he used me to get to Caleb. It's really important right now that you give them the chance to help you, Riley."

"I really couldn't care less what you think, Sarah. I'm tired of people telling me what I should do and what I should think. It's no longer anybody's business but my own."

"Riley," Tyler groaned, "Quit being so damn stubborn. It's okay to admit when you're scared and need help."

Riley dropped her head in shame, putting a hand on her forehead to shield herself from their peering eyes.

"Please, sis. If not for you, then how about for my nephew? Let us protect you, just this once," Tyler pleaded.

She said nothing. Finally, they all heard her sob quietly.

Pogue took his son, occupying him while Tyler hugged his twin tightly.

"Please, just stay a while longer, okay?" Tyler asked softly in her ear as he felt sobs rack through her body.

"Tyler.. I can't."

"Why not?" he asked, pulling her away from him a bit so he could look into her tear-shining eyes.

"That's my fault," Caleb answered, taking Riley away from Tyler's grasp and putting her into his own arms.

"Riley, what you saw isn't what you think," Sarah said gently, feeling horrible for the sobbing girl, "I'm here to tell you what Caleb tried to explain. I know the secret, but these guys are my friends. I would never tell, I couldn't. Not after all that they've done for me."

"But.. but.." Riley started, but couldn't gather her words.

"Ly, we can trust her. It doesn't mean I have to marry her. C'mon, don't run away, alright? Even if you want to hate me forever, that's ok. Just please don't leave."

Riley wiped at her eyes and looked at Caleb, seeing truth behind them.

'_I always was a sucker for pretty words..'_

"I'm not just saying it for me, Riley," Caleb added, making Riley think he could read her thoughts, "I'm saying it for all of us. None of us want you to leave. I mean, you just got here. We all love you and Logan. Ok?"

She nodded, still wiping away the moisture from her eyes.

"So, are you gonna stay?" Reid asked.

"For now," she agreed.

Acting on pure impulse, Caleb hugged her tightly before planting a kiss on her lips.

Riley knew she should pull away. And probably slap him too. But her brain wasn't giving out the right orders to the rest of her body.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer.

Everybody else in the room casually looked away, letting Caleb and Riley enjoy their reunion.

"Are we alright now?" Caleb asked once they finally parted.

"No. But we will be," Riley answered.

Riley turned to Sarah; "I'm sorry. I don't know you all that well. I never have been the friendliest person in the world."

Sarah chuckled. "It's alright. Don't worry about it. Glad I could help."

"Well, if the boys trust you, then I guess I can too," Riley let her know.

Tyler hugged his sister before Pogue stepped up, with Logan still under the spell and playing comfortably.

"Pogue, if I'm going to be staying here, I want to discuss something with you," Riley started, giving her son a kiss on his forehead.

"What's that?" he wondered, almost terrified of what she could possibly tell him.

"Joint custody," she stated simply.

Never before has there been a bigger smile on Pogue's face. It nearly broke his face in two.

"Thanks," he told her, balancing Logan in one arm while he wrapped the other around Riley in a hug.

"You deserve it, Pogue."

After a few more minutes, Riley was yawning widely.

"Well, I believe it's time for me to go to sleep," Riley announced, getting up from her stone chair.

"Yeah, we should all probably go," Caleb seconded, still holding tightly onto Riley's hand.

"He's already sleeping," Pogue told Riley, handing her back Logan.

"Actually, Tyler, do you think you could take him home? Caleb and I have some things to discuss," Riley asked her older brother.

"Yeah, sure," Tyler took his nephew while Reid threw Caleb a knowing smile, greeted back with a one finger salute.

"Bye guys," she waved with one hand while Caleb led her up the stairs by her other hand.

"Gee, wonder what they're gon.. OW!" Reid started, but stopped mid-sentence when Pogue and Tyler each slapped the back of his head.

Riley and Caleb got into his car and he sped off towards his house, lacing their hands together as he drove.

Once inside the Danvers household, Caleb and Riley walked through the house, but stopped at the sound of Evelyn Danvers' voice.

"Caleb? Is that you?"

"Yes, Mother. It's me," Caleb answered dutifully.

He stood outside the study; from where she was standing, Riley could clearly see the small glass filled with an amber liquid in Evelyn's hand.

"Is Sarah with you?"

Riley barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes and scoffing.

"No, Mom. It's Riley."

Evelyn turned in the large chair, eyeing Riley.

"Caleb, let me talk to her for a bit," Evelyn told her only child.

Caleb looked at Riley for permission, but his mother cut into the silent conversation.

"Now, Caleb."

Sighing heavily, Caleb dropped Riley's hand and walked up the stairs by himself, closing his bedroom door behind him.

"Come in here, Riley," Evelyn said, already turned back in the chair to face the fireplace.

Riley did so and leaned against the mantel.

"I know my son is in love with you. I can see it in his face," Evelyn started, then stopped to take another sip, "But I do not think you are the future for him."

"Evel-" Riley started, but Evelyn continued, completely ignoring Riley's protest.

"I know he may think so now, but I trust he will come to his senses sooner or later," Evelyn finally looked towards Riley, "You already ruined two bloodlines with your child. Are you going to ruin the rest of them as well?"

Finally, Riley's anger got the best of her.

"My child is everything to me. And you have no right to judge me, Evelyn. Nor do you have any right to tell me who I can and cannot date."

"I can when the next life you're going to ruin is my son's."

"Mother!" Caleb appeared by the doorway, pissed off by hearing what his mother just said.

"Caleb Danvers, leave this room," Evelyn played the mother card on him.

"I'm sorry, Mother, but I can't do that," he entered the room completely, putting an arm around the waist of Riley. She relaxed considerably.

"She's going to ruin everything, Caleb. Why can't you see that? You'll never have the future you were destined to have if you stay with her."

"If that's the price, then fine," Caleb responded, feeling very brave against his mother.

"Didn't you see what she did to Pogue?"

Caleb rolled his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by his mother or by the girl in his arms.

"She was a child, Mother," he defended.

Evelyn pointed towards Riley; "You chose the wrong Son to begin with. If you hadn't been so careless with yourself, I would've gladly welcomed you into my family. Now, I want to keep you out of it."

With that, Evelyn turned back to the fireplace, drinking more of the amber liquid.

"She's drunk. Don't pay attention to what she said," Caleb instructed once they were upstairs, safely away from her ears.

Riley shrugged, used to it.

"Thank you, Caleb," she offered, then continued when he looked at her with a puzzled face, "For defending me against your mother. I know we haven't been on the best terms lately and you didn't have to come to my rescue."

"I'd always come to your rescue," he told her honestly, crossing the room to give her a long hug.

"Can we make this work?" she thought out loud, letting him in on her thoughts.

He moved a bit so he could look her in the face; "If we try, Riley. If you're willing to stay here and not run away again."

"I think I can do that," Riley told him after giving her response a thought.

"So, are we alright now?" Caleb repeated his question from earlier in the night.

Riley grinned; "No, but we will be."

"Wh-" he only got half his question out before she grabbed his face, crashing his mouth onto hers. Caleb didn't need it spelled out for him.

Later, Riley curled herself up to Caleb, who put a tight arm around her and kissed her temple.

About an hour later, Riley was comfortable lying beside him, hearing his heartbeat. She didn't realize he was even awake until he spoke in a hushed tone.

"I love you, Ly."

She felt him suck in air, surprised, when she turned her head and let her eyes linger over his face.

"I love you too, Caleb."

**A/N: **Aw shucks, they're back together! Yay! So now's the time to review. Also, the burning question: Where do **you** want the story to go? I wanna make sure the readers are happy. Next chapter might be a while, but it will be up before long, I promise.


	11. An Unwelcome Return

**A/N:** Thanks to all who reviewed. It means a whole bunch and keeps the story alive in the long run. I know it's been awhile, but I'm still trying to deal with my hectic schedule. I made it a bit longer than usual, just to apologize. Alright, _italics_ are thoughts and telepathic messages. **Bold** are messages from different planes. It'll make sense when you read. Enjoy.

Chapter Eleven

An Unwelcome Return

Riley kept squirming in her seat while in Literature, gaining herself weird looks from Pogue and Caleb.

"What's wrong with you?" Caleb whispered to her, nudging her gently with his elbow.

"My stomach hurts," she whispered back.

Pogue nearly gagged at the loving sight of Caleb kissing his hand before rubbing her stomach.

"Feel better?" Caleb asked with a shy smile, making Riley's heart skip a beat.

"Yeah," she lied because of his gesture.

He smiled again before going back to concentrating on the teacher's lecture. Riley, however, had to fight the urge to run out of the classroom. She didn't feel sick; something was wrong. Really really wrong.

At the sound of the bell, Riley dashed out of her seat, not even bothering to pick up her blazer or backpack.

"Ly! Where ya goin'?" she heard Tyler's voice from the other side of the hall, but she kept running.

She ran clear out of the building, amongst the whispers. There were plenty of rumors to choose from now when it came to Riley. She didn't give them a second thought, which just added fuel to the fire.

By the time she got to her car, her lungs were burning and her legs felt weak. Riley unlocked her door by using for a quick second, then sped off.

In her rearview mirror, she could clearly make out four male bodies standing in the parking lot, mere feet from where she had parked. She didn't have to guess that all wore expressions of worry and confusion.

She drove to her house, not even closing the driver side door to her car as she ran into her house, throwing open the door.

"Nancy?!" she called out to their nanny. She sounded more frantic than she had wanted.

"Riley, what're you doing home?" Nancy appeared from the kitchen, concerned as she dried off her hands with a dishtowel.

"Where's Logan?" she asked instantly.

"He's upstairs, napping," Nancy barely got her answer out before Riley took off up the stairs.

She pushed open Logan's bedroom door gently, peering into his crib.

A breath she didn't realize she'd been holding escaped her when she saw her son's sleeping form.

"Oh thank God," she mumbled, reaching over the barrier to brush a piece of hair from her son's face.

She heard another car pull up into the driveway. As predicted, four bodies joined her in the toddler's bedroom shortly after.

She put a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet, before leading them to her bedroom.

"What the hell was that about, Ly? You gave us all a heart attack," her brother scolded her gently.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I had a weird feeling."

"About what?" Reid wondered, taking a seat at Riley's desk but facing the group.

Riley sat on the bed with Caleb beside her. Tyler leaned against her dresser and Pogue stood in front of the couple.

"I dunno. I thought of Logan, so I came home," she explained.

"You're still worried about Ch.. what happened before," Pogue pointed out, to which Riley nodded.

"She has nightmares about it," Caleb told his brothers.

"How'd you know?" Riley looked towards him.

Caleb shrugged; "You talk in your sleep."

"We need to figure out why she got that feeling today," Pogue put the focus back to the task at hand.

"Motherly intuition?" Tyler suggested.

"But he's fine. Nothing's wrong," Reid countered.

"Maybe because we're closer to our ascension?" Tyler continued.

"We don't even know if she'll ascend. She's the first female," Pogue remembered what Gorman had told them when they were only thirteen.

Riley could no longer hear their suggestions. She could only focus on the sharp pain in her abdomen. The boys didn't even realize it until she clenched her teeth and sucked in air, clutching her arms around her stomach.

"What's wrong with her?" Reid stood up, but keeping his distance.

"Baby? Talk to me," Caleb told her.

Riley could only double over in pain. Tears flooded her eyes, spilling over.

"Tyler, get her.. something," Caleb demanded; the male twin nodded and rushed out of the room, with Reid following closely.

"What should we do?" Pogue said. He'd never admit it aloud, but his heart broke at the sight in front of him. Being helpless didn't sit well with him. And that terrified him, especially when it came to Riley.

"I don't know," Caleb put his strong arms around Riley, rocking her as she continued to pain out in pain.

If Pogue hadn't been in the room with him, Caleb would've sworn he had hallucinated. One second, he was grasping tightly to Riley. The next, there was nothing but air in his arms. Riley was nowhere to be seen.

"What just happened? Where'd she go?" Caleb asked as he stood up, going to search the other bedrooms.

Pogue called for Caleb; Caleb found his brother in Logan's room, leaning over the crib.

"What's wrong, brother?" Caleb asked from the doorway.

When Pogue turned to him, angry tears were evident and his eyes were black.

"They're gone. Again."

Riley couldn't quite place what had happened. She remembered being held by Caleb while a searing pain coursed through her veins. The next thing she remembered, she was feeling.. wonderful. Euphoria, she guessed. But she wasn't home. She recognized her surroundings and started hoping she had passed out from the earlier pain.

"Sorry about the intense pain."

The sound of his voice made Riley gag on reflex, making his smile even more dominant on his face.

"You caused that?" her voice was tiny, scared. She knew what he was capable of. No doubt he'd be pissed over their last encounter.

"Oh, that was nothing. I was just checking on the progress," he answered casually, offering her water that she, in turn, refused.

"Pro-" the word wasn't lost on Riley. She realized exactly what he'd been doing. And what he was looking for.

"It's December 14th, Riley. Your ascension is less than three months away now. We have to make sure you're prepared for what you have to do," he schooled her.

She was worried. He wasn't angry towards her in any way. He was actually being gentle with her; an uneducated eye might say he was even being loving towards her. But Riley knew otherwise. He'd used her for his great big diabolical plan than dispose of her.

'_Crap. What'd I get myself into this time?'_

"But, I'm not.. I mean, I.." she couldn't seem to form the words she was looking for.

He chuckled and sat beside her on the loveseat; Riley instinctively moved as far away from him as possible.

"Oh, you thought that was it, huh?" his smile was becoming a bit more menacing.

"What do you mean?" Riley asked, his words swimming in her head.

"That, my dear, was just for fun," he started, reaching over to move back her hair off her shoulder and smiled when she shuddered away, "Those dreams you were having. Did you think they were only dreams?"

Caleb's voice was suddenly in her head. She'd remembered the explanation he gave her about the Putnam bloodline. _"John Putnam came to Agnes Goodwin Pope as an incubus in her dreams.. She gave birth ten months and twenty-four days after her husband's death.."_

"Now I think you've got it," Chase shook his head at her, teasing her, "You're such a smart girl, Riley. I thought you would've figured it out when your monthly friend didn't show up."

That thought hadn't even occurred to her. With so much stress, she was expected to be a little off.

But almost two months? How'd she not notice that?

She heard crying coming from one of the back rooms. Anywhere in the world, she could recognize that cry.

"Logan?" her voice came out as a question when she looked at Chase.

"He's probably just waking up. Go get him, Mommy," he encouraged.

Riley was confused; he wasn't nearly as dominating or menacing as forever. But who was she to question him being nice to her as long as she was with her son?

Without saying anything more, she rushed off, trying to locate her son's cry.

Chase followed her, seeing fascinated by the way Riley knew her son's exact location without a second thought.

"So, the mother is connected to the son," he commented offhand as Riley picked him out of the crib, rocking him gently and reassuring him.

"What?" she asked.

"Your power is connected to his, Riley," he started explaining, taking Logan away from her.

She was about to protest when Logan started crying. Against her will, she felt the power coursing through her veins and starting to take over her eyes.

Chase smiled, then handed him back to his mother, noticing Riley's eyes stayed their natural color.

"Hmm, that's interesting," Chase commented, watching as they interacted.

"Look, I know what's going to happen," Riley started, putting Logan back into his crib but keeping a watchful eye over him.

"Do you now?" Chase sat in the rocking chair in the opposite corner, amused, "Please explain then."

Riley took a deep breath.

"You want me to be pregnant if I ascend. Then the baby will get some of my power as well, making him as powerful as Logan.."

"Right so far," he urged her to continue.

"But after I deliver, you won't need me anymore," Riley finished, looking sad at her son, "And you'll kill me."

"Ah, see, that's where you're wrong," Chase corrected her.

Riley's head turned quickly towards him, her eyes full of unspoken questions.

"Unlike you, Riley, I have no experience being a parent. That's why I'd have to keep you around. I need to ensure nothing will happen to my sons."

"Huh?" Riley couldn't help but question him. She couldn't trust him, she knew that for sure. But now he was acting nicely towards her, which confused her more than anything. He was going to let her live?

"It would look odd in the social circles to have two sons with no mother present, don't you think?" Chase asked her suddenly, catching her off-guard.

"Wait, social circle? What are you planning?" she was almost afraid to ask, but her curiosity got the better of her.

Chase smiled. An odd look for him, Riley decided.

"Did you already forget about our plans, Riley?"

"Shit," Riley mumbled. Part of the plan was for them to be married after she ascended.

"Seems like you're remembering it now," Chase commented, amused.

"Isn't there another way to bring your spawn into the world?" Riley voiced before she knew not to.

His eyes clouded over slightly, but the smile remained; "I could make this very painful for you, Riley."

She chewed on her lower lip, weighing her options.

"This is the only way to ensure that Logan will be safe," she realized, not even bothering to think about herself anymore. She wasn't what mattered anymore. If her son was safe, then fine.

Riley was looking at her son, but saw Chase's hand go into his pocket out of the corner of her eye.

"Give me your hand."

There was no cutesy introduction to the act. There was no promises, no vows, no romance. Nothing. It was done out of duty, part of the plan.

She put her left hand out towards him and he proceeded to put a ring on her finger.

"It'll remind you what will happen if you leave."

'_Not exactly how I pictured my wedding proposal in my head..'_ Riley thought bitterly, even though the ring itself was gorgeous.

"It was my grandmother's ring," Chase commented, noticing her eyes hadn't left the large diamond.

"I figured," she told him before kissing her son's head and leaving the room.

Even as she walked through the hallway, she felt the sting of unshed tears behind her eyes. But she refused to let Chase see her emotionally broken. She could keep up the façade. Once she got the chance, they both knew she would run like hell.

"You aren't a prisoner, Riley. I want you to know that," Chase told her, appearing ahead of her and nearly scaring her to death.

"Then what do you call being kept against my will?" she quipped back harshly.

"We are connected now. No matter if you try to run or leave, there will always be a reminder of me," Chase said, putting a hand on her stomach. It wasn't defensive or possessive. It was cautious, as if he were afraid of crushing her womb under his hand.

"You can't hurt me."

"I wouldn't try," he reminded her.

"Aren't you supposed to hate me? Isn't this all a plot to kill off the Sons, ruining the Covenant? So you can have all the power?" Riley was getting more confused with every word out of his mouth and demanded answers.

"Yes, it is," Chase started, "I hate them for having everything I didn't. They have no idea what it was like for me, having nobody to turn to when I got the power. But you and me, we're exactly alike-"

"You and I share nothing."

"We're outsiders, Riley. Don't you see that? I'm the forgotten son; you're the daughter that shouldn't have happened. We can never belong with them."

"They love me. I'm connected to all of them. For fuck's sake, I had Pogue's son. And I'm in love with Caleb. Not to mention I'm Reid's best friend and Tyler's twin. You're right Chase, you and I are identical," she rolled her eyes at him.

Chase was fighting to keep his anger controlled. If his plan was going to work, he needed her. But he wouldn't let her know that. She couldn't have any control over the situation.

"You've been gone for an entire day, Riley. The last time, it took them mere hours to find you. They know about the Putnam house, yet they haven't even come. Are you sure they love you?"

Chase's words cut through Riley. She realized it was the truth. She had told them about being held captive in the Putnam house the first time around. Where the hell are they now?

What Riley didn't realize was the boys were standing in the Putnam house, frantically tearing it apart. They were all determined to find a sign, any sign, that Riley or Logan had been in the house.

"Where the hell are they?" Reid voiced everyone's thought. The house was nearly destroyed, but there was nothing that told them anyone had stepped foot in the house for decades.

"She told us that Chase had redone the mansion, that the inside looked brand new," Pogue remembered.

"What if he did?" Tyler wondered.

The older brothers looked at him like he'd grown another head.

"Tyler, we're standing in the Putnam house. It looks just as old and creepy as it always has," Caleb gently said.

"No, I mean, if Chase had enough power, could he make it.. so that it only looked brand new to her and Logan?"

"Like a mirage, you mean?" Reid asked.

Tyler shook his head; "No, like on a whole other plane of existence."

"With his power and his father's, it might be possible," Caleb accepted Tyler's theory.

"So, what the fuck are we gonna do? Just stay here, doing nothing to help them?" Pogue demanded, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side. His power was coursing heavily through him, begging him to use.

"Pogue, we'll find them. Just calm down," Caleb warned his best friend. He understood where Pogue's anger was coming from, especially since he was going through the same thing, but now was not the time to loose his cool.

"Then answer the damn question. What the fuck are we gonna do, Caleb?"

Caleb's eyes averted from Pogue's hard stare, landing on the floor where an old rug met a cloth-covered dust-filled couch. The dust was moving around it, as if someone was kicking up the rug.

Meanwhile, while Chase went on and on about their similarities and their "bright future together", his words not hers, Riley's absentmindedly kicked up the edge of the rug, smoothed it out, and kicked it up again continually. She was bored out of her mind and Chase was starting to get on her nerves.

"It's her," Caleb whispered to himself, crossing the room quickly and standing in front of the rug.

He touched the arm of the couch and instantly pulled his hand back.

"What's wrong, Caleb?" Tyler saw his friend's reaction.

"It's warm. Like someone's been sitting there."

Riley pulled her arm off the end of the couch, rubbing her arm. It felt like someone had just touched her.

"Riley, are you alright?" Chase voiced, trying his best to look concerned for her well-being.

She nodded, assuring him and he continued speaking. She didn't dare let him see her rolling her eyes.

"Pogue, hand me your knife," Caleb instructed, catching it as a reluctant Pogue threw it his way.

The next time Riley's foot lifted up the rug, her eyes went wide. Underneath, seemingly scratched into the floor was written one word: "**Riley?**"

"Something wrong?" Chase was annoyed; she wasn't paying him an ounce of attention and he was trying to gain her trust.

"Yeah," Riley was startled and quickly let the rug drop back, then turned to face him, "You're completely right."

Chase's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I am?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, putting a hand on his leg, "We could be good for each other, y'know? We're both outcasts, put to the side. They don't care about us. Hell, they obviously didn't care to even see if there was a fifth bloodline or not."

"Exactly! I'm glad you see it my way," Chase smiled in satisfaction. His excitement was high, feeling closer to the destruction of the precious covenant.

Chase figured, as long as she was there, he was going to make a bit of his own fun.

"We should celebrate your newfound confidence in this," he started, putting his own hand high on her thigh. It took her complete willpower not to cringe or shudder away from him. Instead, a smile appeared on her face. When he leaned forward, she tried to reach across the barriers of distance to one of her covenant members.

'_Hurry your asses up already.'_

She kissed him and continued to distract him from the fact that underneath the rug, a glimmer of hope had appeared.

"I guess not," Caleb concluded, shrugging a shoulder. He was positive he felt her there, in that room.

"We'll find her, Caleb. She's not here," Reid assured their unspoken leader.

"C'mon, we should start heading back," Tyler said, looking as down and distraught as Caleb felt.

"I'm staying here," Caleb told the rest.

"What? Why?"

"Because I swear I felt her here. I'm not leaving," Caleb asserted.

"Fine, man. Something happens, give us a call," Pogue gave his best friend a manly hug before the three boys left to their respective destinations.

Caleb sighed heavily and sat in the middle of the couch, putting his head in his hands. He felt it right then; an energy. The end he had touched earlier still felt warm, but the opposite side felt different. He could only use one word to describe that feeling. Evil.

Her words were in his ear; _'Hurry your asses up already.'_ He knew he wasn't just imaging it, he knew she was there. It killed him that he didn't exactly know where "there" was.

When Chase and Riley finally parted, he saw her in a completely new aspect.

"I imagine you'll want some time alone, to get used to it. Everything you need is already here, as I'm sure you remember. Goodnight," he told her gently, more gently than he ever realized he was capable of.

"Thank you. Goodnight," she returned, forcing the bile down her throat. She would need to brush her teeth for a good few hours to get over that.

She watched him walk up the stairs, to the master bedroom. Acting quickly, she went into the kitchen and dug out a knife. She wanted to experiment with what she had seen earlier. But when she returned and flipped up the corner of the rug, her heart sank. The word had disappeared.

Still, she put the metal to the hardwood floor. It barely scratched it and she was unsure whether or not her message was getting through. Likely to the message she'd seen, she only put one word.

Caleb felt the rug moving suddenly and it gained his attention. With anticipation and a light heart, he saw the message written back.

"**Caleb?**"

He then saw the message sink back into the boards, as if it had never existed. He grinned, understanding what was happening. Tyler was right; she was there, just on a different plane somehow.

He still had Pogue's knife in his hand and greedily carved back into the boards, anxious to recover his girlfriend and her son.

"**Are you and Logan together?**"

By then, Riley also understood and felt light hearted, knowing she was not forgotten.

"**Yes.**"

"**Hurt?**"

"**No. Engaged.**"

"**I don't remember proposing.**"

Riley almost giggled. Even though they were stuck in a horrible situation that could possibly ruin both of their lives, or kill them, Caleb still found a way to make her forget about that and smile. Then she relived the painful truth. He was right, though. It wasn't to Caleb that she was promised. Her betrothed would gladly kill her boyfriend without a second thought.

She almost chuckled at the situation, then shook her head sadly.

"**Chase.**"

A million horrible things ran though Caleb's head. Was it really Riley he was talking to? It could be Chase, playing a cruel joke.

"**Riley, tell me where my birthmark is.**"

Riley was put off by the weird request, but shrugged a shoulder, giving back an answer.

"**Below your left hip.**"

Caleb let out a loud sigh. That answer proved it was indeed his girlfriend he was communicating with.

"**I heard you earlier. I heard your voice.**"

"**Is that possible?**"

"**Try to send me a thought. Anything.**"

Riley concentrated, closing her eyes and sending him the only message she could think of.

When the voice rang through Caleb's thoughts, he felt the sting of tears behind his eyes because of her message.

'_I love you, Caleb.'_

He could only pray he could hear her speak those words again. Silently, he vowed to himself he would, even if it meant killing Chase with his bare hands.

Riley couldn't help but think that her message hadn't gotten to him, until a voice intruded in on her thoughts.

'_I love you too, Riley.'_

"**How?**"

"**We're in the same place together, I think.**"

Riley could hear Chase rummaging around upstairs and quickly flipped the rug down, fearful that he would come downstairs and discover her secret.

'_Does that mean we should talk like this?'_

His words coming through her head were enough to make her want to cry.

'_Sorry. Thought he was coming.'_

'_So, you're engaged to him now?'_

Riley thought even Caleb's voice sounded angry and disappointed. He could never hide his emotions from her.

'_Not by choice. And only for the time being, because I'm..'_

How the hell do you tell your boyfriend you're pregnant by somebody else? Especially when you already have a son by his best friend?

Unfortunately, Riley's thoughts transferred to Caleb without her knowing.

'_It's ok, Riley. I swear, we'll come get you.'_

'_How? You don't even know where I am.'_

Even in her thoughts, her voice was breaking with tears. She rubbed at her eyes angrily, cursing that tears were spilling over.

'_You can get information from Chase. I know you can, Riley. When we talk again, we can form a plan. Just play the part.'_

'_Easy for you to say. You're not engaged to a raging psychopath,'_ Riley playfully responded.

Caleb's laugh sounded through her head gently, making her chuckle.

'_Tomorrow, ok? I'll be here at 3. Right here.'_

Riley bit her bottom lip, thinking it over. What if Chase was here? Would she be able to play it off? Finally, she made a decision.

'_Alright. Until then.'_

Caleb was excited by her answer. Not only did he know where his girlfriend was, but he also knew that she was safe and was going to help him to plan the rescue.

'_I love you, Ly. Be careful and remember to play the part.'_

Riley rolled her eyes. Easier said than done. How could she actually live with Chase?

'_I love you too, Leb.'_

Caleb smiled at Riley using Logan's nickname for him. He felt hopeful, wishing it was already tomorrow. He finally got up from his spot and felt the coldness wash over him. She was no longer in the same spot as him.

As he opened the front door, he turned around once, trying to spot a glimpse of where she was. He smiled to himself when he saw the dust on the stairs moving slightly.

Caleb knew the Sons would only have one chance to rescue them. After that, Chase would ensure that Logan and Riley belonged to him. He refused to let that happen. No way in hell would he stand by while his girlfriend, the girl he loved, was engaged to Chase, their covenant's biggest enemy.

Riley slowly made her way up the stairs and into the master bedroom, forcing herself to follow her boyfriend's direction.

Chase must be a light sleeper, she decided, because he stirred when she closed the door behind her.

"Riley? Something wrong?"

Riley knew that while she was playing a part, so was Chase. He was purposely getting her to trust him, to tear her away from the covenant. Hell would freeze over first, however.

"No," she shook her head, "I just didn't want to sleep alone."

Inwardly, Chase was smiling, but his face remained concerned.

He flipped over the comforter on the opposite side of the bed; "C'mon in."

She was reluctant for a second, but quickly replaced it and climbed into the bed. Riley could feel every single one of her muscles tense as Chase drew an arm around her waist.

"It's alright. You're safe here," Chase's sleepy voice went into her ear, resting his hand on her stomach as if to prove his point. As long as she was pregnant, Riley was safe in the Putnam house.

She forced herself to relax and lean against his chest.

'_My days here are numbered,'_ she promised herself before slipping into a deep sleep.

That night, all of Riley's dreams revolved around her boyfriend and her future escape from the overly decorated hellhole she was in.


	12. Goodbye For Now

**A/N:** Thanks to all who reviewed. Disclaimer is always the same. There's something about this chapter that I just don't like, but it's necessary for the plot I've got going. Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve

Goodbye For Now

The next day went by painfully slow. She was forced to endure hours and hours of Chase interrogating her, trying to get information against the Sons. She only gave useless bits and pieces. Riley could tell he was pissed off with her, but he wouldn't dare say nor do anything that would make her silent.

As three in the afternoon rolled around, Riley could feel the nerves starting heavily in her stomach. She was anxious for the hour to pass so that she could talk to Caleb. It still freaked her out, their way of communication, but she didn't dare question it.

To fill her time, she went into Logan's room, where he was sleeping happily in his crib. She smiled and took a seat in the overstuffed chair that was in the opposite corner, watching her son lovingly.

She thought about everything that had happened in his short lifespan and couldn't help but feel horrible for him. His life hadn't been normal from the very beginning. A lot of obstacles faced him as he grew older, especially with the half-sibling growing in her womb.

What if the Sons' rescue attempt failed? Surely Chase would make sure she never talked, saw, or thought of one of them for the rest of her life. Would she still be in the Putnam house when Logan ascended? Worse, would she be dead? Or the worst possibility, would she be alive and married to Chase? She shuddered to think.

"Riley," Chase appeared in the doorway, leaning into it with one hand on each side.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"I'm going to the store. He needs diapers and some food. Don't want a cranky baby on our hands," he tried to joke, but Riley's small, humorless smile told him it failed horribly.

"Ok. Thank you, for keeping him safe."

Chase entered the room, hovering over the crib and couldn't help but feel something for the small toddler. He wasn't sure if it was fear or awe.

"He's part of our family. Of course I'd keep him safe," Chase responded, still looking at Logan.

It pained Riley's heart to hear him say that. She didn't want to be apart of Chase's family and she sure as hell didn't want Logan apart of it, either. It meant permanent. Anything permanent with Chase could not be good.

"Would you prefer I just put you under a spell to believe you're happy here?" Chase suddenly asked and Riley was taken back. Not by his question, but the fact that he was mere centimeters from her face and she couldn't recall watching him move closer.

"Do you want me under a spell to believe I'm happy here?"

Chase's eyes softened lightly, then leaned in to kiss her. Uncharacteristically of Chase, he made sure the kiss was soft and reassuring. When Chase's tongue probed its way into her mouth, Riley could feel what was happening. He wasn't putting her under a spell, per se, he was easing her pain away. He was literally taking it away from her, replacing it with calm.

They broke apart and even though she felt better, it was still Chase in front of her. Not the one she had thought about.

"I'll be back in a few hours. I've got a television downstairs. It works, has cable and everything. If you write some down, I'll get some movies for you," he offered.

'_Why does this feel like I'm in an actual relationship?'_ Riley couldn't help but think. It was freaking her the hell out.

"No, that's ok. I'll just watch the cable," she responded, uneasy about his behavior.

Chase was becoming accustomed to kissing Riley. A habit Riley wished he'd break; a habit that Chase realized he didn't want to. He leaned in again to her, dropping a small kiss on her lips before mumbling under his breath. She saw his eyes turned black for a second. Her own got wide when she saw some kind of force field appear around Logan.

"What are you.." she tried to voice her question, but her shock took it away. Quickly she got out of her chair and crossed over to it. She lifted an eyebrow in question to Chase when she realized she could walk through it without anything happening.

Chase joined her in the force field bubble, a small smile playing on his lips. She hated that smile.

"Only you and I can enter. Anybody," he paused at the word to give off a silent threat, "else tries to enter and they will be painfully harmed."

She could only nod. Seemingly happy by her reaction, Chase said his goodbye and left.

'_Just when he becomes like an actual person.. the real Chase shows up,'_ Riley thought, shaking her head.

When she heard the front door open and close, she kissed her son's forehead, took the receiving end of the baby monitor, and rushed downstairs. She practically flew to the couch, noticing the time was already 3:55. Only five more minutes to go..

"What do you mean, you talked to Riley?" Tyler tried to ask again. He had been trying to understand the complicated situation Caleb had going with his twin for the last thirty minutes, but had been unsuccessful. They were currently on their way towards the Putnam house, where Caleb would demonstrate.

"Baby boy, seriously. Listen to what I'm saying," Caleb started again, speaking slowly, "If we're in the same place at the same time, we can communicate. We talked through our thoughts somehow. And when she moves things wherever she is, I can see it. We can write messages on things, but then it disappears back into the house."

"So can we get to where she is?" Reid asked from his place next to Tyler, in the backseat of Caleb's car.

"I don't really know yet," Caleb answered, focusing on the road ahead.

"But we'll get her back," Pogue added for reassurance. He had been trying to stay positive, but was having difficulty with it. With his son and Riley missing, yet again, Pogue was a ticking time bomb. Even Kate had experienced the wrath of the Parry Son when she had kept asking questions about setting a date for their wedding.

All in all, everything Kate did was starting to bug the hell out of Pogue. He had been more than ready to throw in the towel, but unfortunately, the news of an engagement not only swept through the halls of Spenser Academy, but also the town of Ipswich. His parents were happily surprised, more than ready to welcome Kate into their family.

And Pogue was officially screwed.

"Hurry up, I promised I'd be here by four," Caleb said in a hurry to the rest, jogging up the front door and going straight to the couch.

He could feel her presence by the temperature change. It was warm, like a blanket on a cold night. He also saw that the corner of the rug was pulled up and there was already a message waiting for him. It made him smile widely and shake his head.

"**RS + CD**"

'_Are you gonna say hello or just stand there all day?'_ Riley's playful voice came into his thoughts. She felt his presence the second he walked into the living room.

'_Hi babe. Anything happen today?'_

"Seriously, what the fuck is going on? He's just standing there, grinning like an idiot," Reid pointed out.

"Shut up. If Caleb says he can talk to her, then he can," Tyler defended. Not for Caleb, but for himself; he needed to believe his twin was alright and could communicate with them.

'_Yeah, Chase kept interrogating me all day long. He was trying to get the dirt on you guys,'_ Riley informed him.

'_What'd you tell him?'_

'_Oh.. y'know.. you still have Pokemon trading cards. Pogue owns a stuffed animal. Tyler listens to Backstreet Boys when he thinks nobody is home. And Reid wore tighty whiteys until high school.'_

Caleb burst out laughing. He was happy her spirit hadn't been broken.

'_Nice, Ly. The guys are here. Do you want to talk to them?'_

'_Tyler first. He's probably worried himself gray by now.'_

Caleb nodded, more to himself than anything, and spoke up to the group as they watched him intently, "Tyler, come here. Stand exactly where I was."

Tyler took Caleb's spot and waited.

"Now what?"

"Just concentrate. She'll get through to you," Caleb assured the youngest twin.

Tyler was about to call it quits when a voice unlike his own was in his head.

'_Big brother, can you hear me?'_

"Holy shit!" he yelled.

"Calm down. Just concentrate on her voice and let her into your thoughts," Caleb instructed.

Tyler tried his hardest.

'_Sis?'_

He held his breath until she replied back.

'_I'm so happy to hear you, Tyler. I'm sorry about what's happened.'_

'_It wasn't your fault.'_

'_Yeah, well.. y'know. Did Caleb tell you?'_

Tyler shot a look at Caleb, who didn't have to guess what Riley was saying.

When she couldn't hear her brother's response, she guessed that Caleb had kept it to himself. Typical. She was gonna get yelled at, even across different planes.

'_I'm engaged to Chase.'_

'_WHAT!'_ Tyler both screamed out in his thoughts and in front of his friends.

'_Ow, Tyler. Calm down. There's something else. I'm pregnant.'_

When Tyler shot an accusing look towards the leader of the covenant, Caleb raised his hands up in innocence. Then Tyler's eyes clouded over darkly.

'_Ty? You ok?'_

'_We'll get you back, sis. I swear. You're gonna be okay.'_

'_I know you'll come rescue me, big brother. It's what you do. I love you, Ty.'_

'_Love you too, Ly.'_

When Tyler moved away from the spot, he felt the effects of communicating with Riley. He felt his power drained. Even just by talking to her for a few short minutes, he felt completely drained.

"Sit down, it'll go away after a few minutes," Caleb said.

"What happened?" Pogue demanded.

"It drains you. It's exhausting. But it's Riley. You can hear her," Tyler explained.

Instantly, Pogue jumped at the opportunity.

"Where?" he asked Caleb.

"By the couch, in front of the rug."

Pogue stood in the spot and opened his mind, reaching out for Riley mentally.

'_Riley, can you hear me?'_

'_Well, Pogue Parry. Pretty neat trick, huh?'_

'_Yeah, it's cool. Are you okay?'_

'_Eh, I've been worse,'_ she answered honestly. She had been; she was sure. She just couldn't remember exactly when.

'_So, I'm guessing Tyler knows something big. His reaction was very.. big brother-ish. What's going on?'_

Riley took a deep breath.

'_I'm pregnant and engaged to Chase.'_

Shock and hurt were both written clearly in Pogue's eyes. But only the brothers could see it.

'_Oh. Wow. Is he treating you badly?'_

'_No, actually quite the opposite. I guess he's got it in his head to be nice to me and Logan. I'm milking it. He even got me a tv.'_

Pogue's eyes scanned the rest of the room. Sure enough, sitting on top of a dusty cabinet, sat what looked like a tv underneath a cloth.

'_Any idea how we can get to you?'_

'_No, not yet. But I'm still trying to figure it out.'_

'_Alright. Take care of yourself, Riley. Kiss my son for me. I love you.'_

'_I love you too, Pogue.'_

Riley was sure he meant platonically. Pogue was still trying to convince himself of that when he walked away from the spot.

"Reid, you wanna talk to Riley?" Caleb offered.

"No."

Reid's short and distant reply worried Caleb.

"Are you sure, man?" he knew that Reid always tried to act tough but he was just as worried as the rest of them. Riley was his best friend, even higher up there than Tyler. His partner in crime.

"Don't push it, Danvers," Reid replied coldly before stalking to the stairs and plopping down.

Without questioning it again, Caleb sat on the couch to talk to his girlfriend.

'_Helloooo? Anybody home?' _Riley tried to joke.

'_Sorry about that. Reid doesn't want to talk.'_

Riley felt a bit hurt by that. If it took everybody else a thousand words to convince her she'd be ok, it only took Reid one.

'_Can you at least bring him close to the rug?'_

"Reid, get over here."

"No."

"I don't remember asking," Caleb growled.

"Fuck off," Reid replied, not second thinking it.

"Garwin, she's your best friend. She's the only one who stops you from using. You need her in your life. So get the hell up and over here. Now," Caleb said angrily. He was sure Riley heard him when she scolded him, telling him to be nicer to Reid.

Reid mumbled swear words under his breath, but followed Caleb's orders and stood by him.

"Just watch," Caleb said to Reid before mentally telling Riley that Reid was there.

Slowly, Reid watched the message appear on the floorboards below. He rubbed his eyes once to make sure it was really happening, but noticed that Caleb could also see it.

She scrawled it quickly, but her words took effect on Reid. It read _'Garwin, I know you're hurting. But I promise you I'm okay. I'm just waiting for my blonde hero to come get me. I love you, retard.'_

His trademark smirk found its way onto his face and Caleb put an arm around his shoulder.

Riley was about to ask Caleb a question when she could hear Logan's cries through the baby monitor.

'_I've got to get Logan,'_ she said quickly to anybody who'd listen before rushing off towards his room.

"Hey buddy. Mommy's here. It's okay," she soothed the crying toddler.

She tried to rock him in her arms, but he was squirming, wanting down from her.

"What's wrong, bub?" she asked, setting him on the floor.

"Want Daddy."

If Riley's heart could've broken even more, it wouldn't right then and there.

"Logan, Daddy is.." she started, but her sentence was ended for her.

"..Right here."

Before Riley could even think of the words to say, Logan made a beeline for Chase, who squatted down to pick up the toddler.

"Uh, what the hell?" she was uneasy, surveying Chase smiling at her son, who was clinging like dear life to his family's worst enemy.

"What's wrong, Riley?" Chase's face held no worry or remorse. It was smug.

"Chase, put down my son."

"Our son," he corrected.

"No," she shook her head, almost violently, "Pogue Parry is Logan's father."

"Are you sure?" Chase tilted his head to the side, then looked at Logan, "Logan, who is Daddy?"

Logan didn't even take a second to answer.

"You."

Riley felt panicked. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She felt like she was stuck. The one living thing that connected her to the Sons was ruined. Her son honestly believed the man holding him was his father.

'_Hmm, wonder where he got that idea.'_

"What'd you do to him?" Venom was dripping from Riley's words.

"I made a guarantee, Riley," Chase started, holding Logan tighter, "He won't leave."

"He's two years old. If I pick him up and leave, he'd leave," Riley rolled her eyes.

"No," Chase's smile got wider, scaring Riley, "You don't understand. Daddy taught Logan a trick."

Chase gave Logan a look before setting him down on the carpet; Logan looked again at Chase, almost asking permission.

"It's okay. Go ahead," he encouraged.

Logan squint his eyes tightly shut. Riley felt like her insides were trying to become her outsides. Her power was no longer the only one coursing through her veins. She could feel an energy controlling her, not willing her the ability to breathe or move or anything.

"That's good, Logan," Chase smiled at the reaction on Riley's face. She was in tremendous pain.

The second Logan opened his eyes again, all pain left Riley's body.

"What the hell was that?!" Riley demanded.

In one blink, her eyes were black as flint.

"Oh that? That's what Logan knows to do if you try to leave."

Translation: Riley was screwed.

If she left, it would have to be without her son. She couldn't allow that to happen.

"Exactly," Chase read her thoughts with a satisfied smirk, "You will stay here, Riley. So don't try to fight it."

He lifted up Logan into his arms once again before leaving the room.

Riley couldn't even fathom what was happening. Her legs could no longer support her and she fell onto the carpet, shaking as sobs tried to escape her throat.

"What's taking her so long?" Pogue demanded, wearing the hardwood floors down as he paced.

"She's coming back," Caleb used the same reply for the sixth time in the last forty-five seconds.

"What if Chase got to her?" Tyler wondered.

Reid rolled his eyes, scoffing; "Too late."

Pogue grit his teeth and crossed the room quickly the blonde Son. Before Tyler and Caleb could stop him, Pogue threw his fist into Reid's face.

Reid was shocked, laid out on the carpet while blood poured from his nose.

"Don't you ever say shit about her again," Pogue threatened, being held back by Caleb while Tyler checked on Reid.

Reid shrugged off the youngest brother, standing up on his own and getting into Pogue's face.

"You're the reason she's in this shit to begin with," Reid growled before wiping the blood from his nose and storming outside the house.

Tyler just shook his head at Pogue before following Reid out, trying to calm down his best friend.

Pogue shrugged Caleb's hands off him, taking a deep breath.

"Why would you do that, Pogue?" Caleb demanded.

Pogue refused to answer. His eyes were pitch black and Caleb noticed the struggle going through Pogue's mind; whether or not to use.

"Right now, we need to figure out a way to get her home, where she belongs," Caleb said, his tone considerably softer. He didn't need a fight among the brothers.

"What, with you? So you can go off and have the perfect fucking life?" Pogue lashed out.

Caleb's eyes hardened.

"You're the one who got engaged," Caleb reminded him.

Pogue rolled his eyes; "It was a mistake! I was trying to break up with her so I could have my family back!"

Caleb's stance faltered. He thought Pogue had gotten over his feelings for Riley a long time ago.

"We should be getting her back, regardless."

"Sure, oh mighty leader," Pogue said, heavily with sarcasm.

"Pogue," Caleb started, sighing, "Whatever you choose to do with your feeling is up to you. But first, we need to figure out a way to get her and Logan back home."

"Fine," Pogue agreed, his eyes fading back to their natural color.

Pogue left the house, not even bothering to spare a glance towards Reid and Tyler, who both looked pissed, and set off walking towards his apartment in town.

Caleb rubbed a hand down his face, thinking over the situation. His best friend was still in love with his girlfriend. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

He sat down on the couch, wishing Riley was beside him. She could figure out a way to make everything okay again.

Riley, in the meanwhile, was calming down after crying her eyes out on the floor. She rushed out of the room and down the stairs, practically throwing herself down onto the couch. She shut her eyes and concentrated intensely, hoping her pleas could be heard.

'_Is anybody there?'_

Caleb perked up at the sound of her voice. He knew she'd be back.

'_Yeah, I'm here, Riley. Is everything okay?'_

Riley took a big breath. She had decided something while sitting on Logan's floor and wondered how the news would sit with the Sons. However, she couldn't worry about them; not when Logan's entire existence depended on what she decided.

'_Yeah, everything's fine. Look, I have to tell you something. Don't question it.'_

'_What is it?'_ Caleb was obviously nervous.

'_Don't come looking for me. Don't try to contact me. Just leave me alone, Caleb. Please. This is where I need to be. I can protect you guys as long as you stay away.'_

'_What?! Riley, no.'_

Tears were slipping down the cheeks of both teenagers.

'_Good-bye, Caleb Danvers. I love you.'_

'_Riley?! RILEY!'_

Caleb tried to reach her, to convince her that her plan was pure madness, but he couldn't. He knew by the cold feeling that entered his chest that she was no longer in the room.

She had fled after her good-bye, running straight towards her room and locking herself in it.

What she didn't see through her teary vision was Chase standing near the entrance to the living room. A huge smile crossed his lips when he realized his entire plan was now in motion.

Riley was his.


	13. Waiting For You

**A/N:** I know, I haven't written in a while. In my defense, one of my friends' parents is no longer with us. I would say sorry and apologize profusely, but I'm a best friend first and a fanfiction writer second. Please enjoy and thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. I can say that the end is quickly approaching.

Chapter Thirteen

Waiting For You

They all wanted to believe she would come back. She was Riley, way too stubborn and pig-headed to let anything stand in her way. They went to the Putnam house, hoping for a sign that she'd communicate with them. But if she was there, she was ignoring them and being unresponsive.

To say it broke their spirits would be the understatement of the century.

Two months passed back horribly slow.

For each Son, it meant something different. Tyler always had that look on his face like his puppy was just run over. Reid used more frequently, never minding the fact that it could kill him now that he had ascended. Pogue was a ticking time bomb, randomly going off on teachers, friends, fellow classmates, and more than anyone, Kate. Their relationship was reduced to less than five words a day to each other. But as bad as the other three brothers were, Caleb was by far the worst off. He didn't speak to anyone, didn't glance when someone called his name, and didn't even enjoy his favorite activities anymore. He skipped swim practice everyday to go to her house, to sit in her room. He only reduced his time there once the coach threatened to kick him off the team permanently and the rest of the Sons had intervened.

He didn't want to give up, but as surely as Riley's perfume smell faded from her pillows, so did Caleb's glimmer of hope.

On the other hand, Riley was doing remarkably well.

Well, at least that's what Chase convinced her of every morning. After she had said goodbye to the Sons of Ipswich for the last time, and bawled her eyes out for three days straight, Chase had come to her with a proposal of a different kind.

He offered to erase her mind of the painful memories, to forget she had another life outside the plane she was on. To erase the Sons of Ipswich. Riley knew it was a plot; he didn't want her to remember so that she couldn't return. She didn't want to forget, but she didn't want to remember even more.

So she let him.

Unfortunately, because of the intensity of Riley's powers, Chase was only able to put on a temporary spell. Each morning, he put the spell on her before she woke up. Every night, right before midnight, Riley remembered. She'd bolt straight out of bed, the memories flooding back to her and tears would flood her eyes until she was able to cry herself to sleep again.

When she was under the spell, she was her normal self, with the addition of playing the part of Chase's fiancé. She cooked, cleaned, did his laundry, took care of Logan single handedly. All of this while her stomach was slowly starting to show.

With three weeks until her 18th birthday, Riley was getting anxious. She loved her birthday, loved being spoiled for a day.

But as excited as Riley was, Tyler was terrified.

"What if she does ascend? It could kill her," Tyler ranted towards the Sons as they sat around the Covenant's meeting place in the old Danvers house.

"We don't know if she'll ascend because she's on a different plane," Reid tried to convince his best friend.

"What if something happens to her because of the baby?" Tyler mumbled, causing Pogue's head to snap up from his previous staring spot on the floor.

"Why would something happen because of the baby?" Pogue demanded, squinting his eyes already in accusation.

The youngest Son shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm just saying that with Chase's powers and stuff."

"I have powers too and Logan didn't hurt her."

"That you know of," Tyler reminded him, regretting his words coming out harshly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pogue dared him, standing up. Everyone could see his hands clenching at his sides.

"Riley had a very difficult birth with Logan, I know that. She lost a lot of blood and went into shock. She almost died," Tyler recalled, his eyes filling with tears at the mere mention of his sister's almost death.

"Chase is stronger than Pogue. That kid'll kill her for sure," Reid stated.

This time, it wasn't Pogue who reacted violently.

It was Caleb.

Nobody even realized the eldest Son's eyes had turned to ebony until Caleb had Reid lifted into the air by his shirt collar. Low growls emitted from Caleb's throat.

"Caleb, put him down. Calm down," Pogue came to his best friend's side, playing the reasonable one once again. A role he had abandoned long ago.

Reid struggled, trying to break himself free, but Caleb's grip was too strong.

"What the fuck! Lay off, Danvers!" Reid yelled, still struggling.

Though Caleb's eyes were still black, they softened a little bit and his grip loosened on Reid's collar.

"Sorry," he mumbled before stalking upstairs.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" Pogue screamed at Reid, pushing him hard.

"Oh, fuck off, Pogue. We all know the longer she stays with Chase, the more likely she is to be dead," Reid threw back.

If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have seen the unshed tears in Reid's eyes. It hurt him beyond all belief that his closest friend, the only girl he believed he could ever trust, was quite possibly no longer living. But being Reid Garwin, he'd be damned if he pretended that it wasn't a possibility.

Chase smiled as his invisible form disappeared from the original Danvers house. This was turning out better than he could've hoped. The Sons were fighting amongst themselves, Riley had given up hope and was getting used to the idea of marrying him and birthing their son, and he had front row tickets to watching all of it unfold.

Realizing Riley would be expecting him home soon, Chase made his way towards the Putnam house, where he used his powers to take him to the same plane as Riley.

Upon hearing the front door open and close, a smile lit up Riley's face. She rested Logan on her hip as she walked down the stairs to greet her fiancé.

Seeing Riley stroll down the stairs, a smile plastered on her face, faintly reminded Chase of a Stepford wife. With her perfect clothes, perfect hair, perfect make up, perfect smile.. Chase came to a realization.

The Riley that he had created was not the Riley that he wanted. This one lacked the spark in her eyes, the venom behind her words, the vulnerability.

The Riley he created acted lovingly towards him, making him dinner, kissing him, letting him touch her. That wasn't what he wanted. He wanted the Riley who would try to poison him, bite his tongue, and shuddered whenever he was in the same room as her.

"Hi honey," she greeted, taking the time to give him a kiss before taking his hand and ushering him towards the kitchen, "Are you hungry? I made meatloaf."

"Meatloaf?"

Now Chase's head was spinning. She really was turning into a Stepford wife.

"Of course," she smiled as she put Logan into his high chair.

Chase noticed that even Logan, who was usually such a vocal toddler, was reduced to a mute who barely smiled. What the hell had he created? It felt like he was living in his own 1950's TV sitcom.

"Riley."

The sound of Chase's voice stopped Riley from carving the meatloaf at the counter; she turned towards him expectantly.

Chase started mumbling underneath his breath. Riley started to question it, but was silenced when she was greeted by the sight of Chase's black eyes.

Then it struck Riley.

It was twice as violent as it usually was. Waves and waves of memories crashed upon Riley's brain, so much so that she almost fell down from it.

By the time Chase's eyes turned back to their natural color, Riley was sitting on the floor, holding her head as a flood of tears spilled onto her face.

"You told me to," Chase held up his hands in innocence once Riley looked up. She had a lot of hatred in those eyes.

Chase decided the hatred was worth seeing the spark back. Then felt repulsed at himself for actually feeling something towards the female that was his enemy.

"I know," she whispered, "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Chase's ears hadn't heard the words completely before a huge sphere of energy went sailing past him, leaving a huge burn mark in the walls.

"Riley, what the hell!" he yelled, despite Logan being in the room.

"I want to go home, Chase," she said thru clenched teeth.

Now Chase's expression hardened and a glare was present.

"Did your memories leave out that part, Riley? You're stuck here with me," Chase reminded her.

"I'm going home, Chase," she stated with confidence Chase knew she wasn't faking.

"Oh really? And leave little Logan alone here?" Chase smirked.

"I know how to get home, Chase."

Chase decided to call her bluff and stepped closer to the raging teenage girl.

"Oh really? And how did you acquire this knowledge?"

Riley scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You really are as stupid as you look. When you transferred my memories, you gave me yours as well. I know how to get back."

Chase made a hand gesture, as if allowing her to pass by him.

"Then, by all means, please do."

"Not yet," Riley smiled; her eyes were wide and a maniacal glimmer was present in them.

Chase had never seen that look on Riley and wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Riley closed her eyes for a second. But in that second, she managed to remove Logan from the confides of the dining room and into his own bedroom, putting the security energy ball around him.

"Clever little girl," Chase said, his own eyes turning black and forming his own sphere of energy.

Meanwhile, Caleb didn't intend on going home. He went to the one place he felt closest to Riley. Since the scent of her had long since faded in her room, Caleb spent some of his time in the Putnam house.

That house held a lot of bad memories for them all, but for Caleb, it was the closest he felt to Riley. The only way he felt everything would be okay.

The second he entered, he felt the tension in the air. And saw the large burn marks in the walls. Someone was destroying the house, but it wasn't on this plane.

Gradually, more marks appeared around the downstairs portion of the house.

Caleb tried to follow them, but they appeared in too many different directions for him to decipher where they originated from. He could only hope that Chase wasn't hurting Logan or Riley.

He stormed through the dining room when he felt what he had yearned for for two months. He felt the warmth. The familiar warmth of his long lost girlfriend.

"No," Caleb said aloud, shaking his head at himself, "She isn't there. False hope, Caleb."

Then he scoffed at himself, realizing he sounded crazy talking to himself.

If Caleb thought he was crazy talking to himself, he thought he should sign himself into the mental institution a few seconds later, when he could've sworn he heard Riley's voice.

When blood appeared on the floor a few feet from him, Caleb's own blood suddenly ran cold.

It wasn't a few drops, but a puddle about the size of his hand. And it only seemed to be expanding.

"You fucking bitch!" Chase screamed as the ball of energy connected with his right side. He had fallen onto the floor and blood poured from his wound.

Riley snickered, though it hurt to do so. She was positive one of her ribs was broken, along with various bruises and cuts. She thought the gash above her eyebrow would leave a pretty cool scar afterwards.

"I told you, I'm going home. If I have to go through you to do that, then I will," she told him, wrapping one of her arms around her abdomen.

"You can't get home," Chase declared, clenching his teeth in pain as he struggled to get off the floor. Blood was dripping off the hand that was pressed tightly against his wounded side.

"I know the secret."

"And what's that?" Chase leaned heavily against the wall. If he wanted to, he could've killed her right then and there. But where would be the fun in that?

"This is the only plane that you're alive on," Riley said, noticing the slight look of surprise on Chase's face, "On any other, you're merely a ghostlike creature. That's why you can't kill me and why I can't leave. I'm alive."

"Ding ding ding, tell her what she's won, Johnny!" Chase applauded in a cheesy game-show host like voice, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"But you forgot one thing, Chase."

Riley closed her ebony eyes for less than a second.

When she opened them, her green eyes were back and her son was sitting on the counter she was standing next to.

"Logan, close your eyes and hold onto Mommy's hand, ok?" Riley asked in a soft voice, to which Logan nodded and did as he was told.

"And what did I forget, dear Riley?" Chase wondered.

"You never underestimate what a girl will go through for love," Riley told him.

In one swift movement, Riley's hand flew to the carving knife next to Logan. She deeply plunged it into her own chest. She continued holding onto her son's hand, leaning against the counter where her blood was already pooling.

"Riley!" Chase yelled, then noticed what was happening. Logan and Riley's bodies started to fade, as if they were only a mirage.

Caleb was still standing in the kitchen, enjoying the warmth and remembering his girlfriend.

Then suddenly, Riley appeared.

"Oh my god, Riley!" Caleb said excitedly to see her again. Then noticed the front of her shirt, which was white, was drenched in blood.

"Riley! What happened?!" he started panicking, laying her easily down on the floor as Logan stood next to the island, scared of what to do.

"Had to.. get Logan home," she choked out.

By the look of her, Riley only had a few more minutes, if that. Caleb's eyes were already spilling tears onto his face.

"Ly, you listen to me, ok? You're gonna be alright. Just hang on," he instructed, holding onto her hand tightly with both of his.

She gave him a weak smile and lightly smoothed her hand over one side of his face.

"I love you," she told him honestly.

"Don't. You're going to be fine, Riley."

Even though his words were positive, Caleb felt unsure and tears spilled heavily as he watched the life drain from her eyes.

"Take care of my boys for me, ok?"

"You can't leave. I just got you back. Riley, you can't leave," he begged and pleaded.

All Riley could do was smile softly at Caleb while taking her last breath before the life completely left her body.

"No, Riley. Riley, come back," Caleb said, sobbing hard as he took her lifeless form into his arms, holding her closely to him.

"Daddy?"

Caleb carefully put Riley's body back down then turned to Logan.

"Mommy sleeping?" Logan asked, staring down at his mother as he inched closer.

"Buddy, Mommy's going to be sleeping for a long time," Caleb tried to explain, but his heart was already shattered. He couldn't bring himself to tell Logan that his mother was dead.

Instead, Caleb chose to cling to the toddler tightly, happy to at least have Logan with him.

"Daddy?" Logan's voice sounded unsure and he pointed towards Riley.

Caleb turned and set Logan back on his feet, staring at the sight before him.

All around Riley was a bright glow, lifting her a few feet off the ground, then it gently set her back down. The blood on her shirt was gone, but there was still a rip in it where she'd pierced herself with the knife.

When the glow finally died down completely, Riley bolted upwards, choking for air.

"Riley," Caleb said, hugging her to him.

"Jeez, did you think you'd get rid of me that easily?" she wondered, a smirk crossing her lips.

"I hoped not. But how..?" Caleb started to question it, but didn't want to actually say the words in front of Logan.

Riley shrugged, then placed a hand over her abdomen.

"I guess he was looking out for me."

"C'mon, let's get you guys home. The boys will never believe this," Caleb helped her up, letting Riley lean against him as he carried Logan on his hip.

"Wait, does this make me the living dead?" Riley asked after Caleb put Logan in the car.

"Just get in the damn car, woman," Caleb joked, as they smiled at each other and set off towards the Sims house.


	14. Bittersweet Reunion

**A/N:** Ok, so I'm back. Sorry about the long wait. I had a huge case of writer's block and wasn't sure where I wanted the story to go from here. Dang, I missed this story. Poor Riley, I can't keep her out of the drama. Shorter than what you're used to, but think of it more as a transitioning chapter. Read and enjoy; reviews never hurt.

Chapter Fourteen

Bittersweet Reunion

"Hello?" Tyler answered his cell phone with no sign of enthusiasm.

"Call Pogue and Reid. Get over to your house," Caleb instructed, skipping the formalities.

"What's going on?"

"Just trust me on this," Caleb requested before hanging up.

Riley smiled, but couldn't help the thoughts flowing through her head.

Of course she was happy to be back, but she couldn't deny that the fireworks between herself and the dark haired boy next to her had considerably sizzled.

And what the hell was with her suddenly flat stomach?

Before she could think any further, Caleb pulled his Mustang into the Sims' driveway.

"The hell could he want right now?" Reid was complaining, yet again. The last place he wanted to be this late at night was with his brothers, rather than the busty redhead he'd left in the dorms.

Tyler rolled his eyes at his best friend; Pogue stared out the window, peering through the snow that was falling.

Naturally, Pogue saw the car first. And when he saw her get out of the passenger seat, he couldn't say a word.

"What? What's happening?" Reid asked when Pogue ran out the front door. The two younger Sons followed.

"Home," Riley muttered to herself while Caleb got Logan from the backseat.

One moment she was standing there, the next she was being crushed to death by a pair of strong arms around her waist.

"Pogue.. I can't breathe," she said.

"Sorry," he apologized, loosening his grip, "I missed you so much, Ly."

"I missed you too," she gave him a smile and another hug.

"RILEY!"

The two parted, expecting it to have come from Riley's twin.

Instead, a blur of blonde sailed past Pogue, gripping onto Riley and spinning her around.

"Happy to see me, Reid?" she joked.

Instantly, his cool demeanor returned.

"Well, I just thought.. y'know.. you didn't wanna hurt Parry's feelings, but we all know who you missed the most," Reid said, smirking.

"Yeah. Me," Tyler appeared, giving his sister a long hug.

"I missed you too, Riles. Don't disappear again, alright?" Tyler prompted.

"No promises, but I'll do my very best. Scout's honor," Riley answered, smiling widely as she heard her brother's laugh.

"C'mon, it's freezing. Let's go inside," Caleb said, leading the way.

Pogue walked directly beside Riley, holding his son in his arms. Tyler had an arm around her shoulders.

After explaining everything as best she could, Riley sighed, leaning against the back of the couch.

"So, you let him make you forget us?" Pogue's voice sounded hurt. She grimaced, then turned to her left since he sat next to her. On the other side of her sat Caleb, rocking a sleeping Logan gently.

"It's not that I wanted to forget you guys. I didn't want to remember the pain, y'know? I needed to forget, at least for a little while, in order to survive as much as I could," she explained gently, holding one of his hands in both of hers.

"Wait, I'm confused. Aren't you pregnant?" Reid started, "Because you don't look pregnant."

For that answer, Caleb stepped in.

"But if Chase is a ghost on our plane, he wouldn't be able to impregnate Riley. Thus, no baby."

"Exactly. But ghost baby had powers on the other plane, which essentially ended up saving my life, since his powers went back into me," Riley ended.

"So your powers are stronger now?" Tyler wondered.

Riley shrugged; "No clue."

"I think we should let her sleep," Caleb said.

"I'm not tired," Riley objected automatically, though she broke into a yawn right after her sentence.

"I'll take her up," Pogue offered, easing himself off the couch before Riley followed suit.

"Let me put Logan down," she commented, taking her son from Caleb's grasp.

When they walked upstairs, Reid turned to Caleb with an uplifted eyebrow.

"What?" Caleb could feel his brother's stare.

"I'm sorry, aren't you the boyfriend?"

"So?" Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

"So why is it that Pogue is the one tucking her into bed?"

Caleb glared at the blonde, making Reid's smirk waver slightly and he put up his hands in innocence.

"Just pointing out the obvious."

"They just missed each other, is all. Plus Pogue is Logan's father," Tyler spoke up, trying to ease the tension.

Upstairs, Pogue quickly moved Logan's crib into his mother's room.

Riley handed their son to Pogue, who held the sleeping boy in his arms and stared into his face.

"Something wrong?" Riley whispered, noticing Pogue's stare.

"I thought I lost him."

Quietly, he put his son into the crib, kissing his forehead.

Pogue looked at Riley, a mixture of emotions on his face that she couldn't quite read.

"I thought I lost you, Ly."

Something inside Riley stirred at his confession. She couldn't describe exactly what that feeling was, but it was powerful and forced Riley to walk into his arms, clinging onto him tightly.

"You could never lose me, Pogue," she mumbled against his collarbone.

He leaned back and put both of his hands on her face, maintaining eye contact. He traced the soft scar that was over her eyebrow and burrowed his own eyebrows in question.

"What happened here?"

She chuckled at the memory. "I kinda got in a fight with Chase."

He smiled, shaking his head at her, and then saw her yawn again.

"C'mon," he tugged on her hand, leading her to her own bed, pulling back the sheets before letting her in.

"You don't have to tuck me in, y'know," she commented.

Hearing Pogue chuckle was a refreshing sound to her ears, and then the familiar comfortable silence filled the room as she lay in the bed and he sat on the edge, watching over her.

"How's Kate?" she asked, unsure whether or not she should ask.

Pogue's muscles in his arms visibly tightened. "Um, we don't really talk much anymore."

"Really? Is it the tension from the planning?" The words went out of Riley's mouth before she could think twice about them.

Pogue chuckled bitterly and shook his head, not giving her a reason.

Riley pushed herself up until her back was against her headboard.

"What happened?"

He didn't look at her. Instead, he stared at the crib and shrugged his shoulders.

"We've just got problems and I don't know if we can work through them."

Riley put a reassuring hand over one of his.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Neither knew if she honestly was or felt it out of sympathy.

"It's alright. I need to concentrate on other things right now," Pogue said.

"Like graduating?" Riley asked, since the deadline of their high school careers was soon approaching.

"No," he shook his head, "Like being a father."

The words tugged on Riley's heartstrings, more so than she thought possible. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him the best she could, due to the angle.

He returned it, pulling her towards him until her legs were draped across his lap.

After a few silent minutes, Pogue spoke up.

"I should probably let you sleep," he moved to get off the bed.

Riley surprised him by tightening her grip on him.

"Please don't leave," she said quickly, then added onto her sentence when he looked at her with questions in his eyes, "I've been by myself for the last two months. The last thing I want is more time alone."

Without another word, Pogue nodded and laid down beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Well, I'm going back to the dorms. It's obvious they're not coming down anytime soon," Reid said, standing up and narrowly avoiding the hit that Tyler aimed for the back of his head.

Soon after Reid left, taking Tyler's Hummer with him, Caleb sighed deeply to himself.

"Caleb," Tyler started but Caleb cut him off, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it, baby boy. I'll just say goodnight to her."

Caleb walked upstairs quietly and slowly opened Riley's bedroom door. Upon seeing the sight before him, he nodded to himself and got himself out of the house, not bothering to stop when Tyler called out to him.

Tyler sighed and hung his head in defeat.

"Welcome home Riley," he muttered sarcastically before making his way to his own bedroom.

The next morning, Riley woke up to the feeling of warmth around her. She had slept better than she had in a long time and snuggled down deeper into the covers to relive the feeling. The presence of a body behind her made her smile; she turned onto her other side, making sure to keep within his grasp.

Pogue had been awake for hours. He had gotten up from the bed briefly to check on his son and watch him sleep for a few moments before he retreated to the bed, where he laid down beside Riley.

He had watched her sleep and daydreamed from that moment. He felt the faint pang of guilt, both for his brother and Kate, but the second she turned and smiled at him, everything else was forgotten.

"Good morning," she greeted him with a voice full of sleep.

He smiled at her in return. "Morning, Ly. How'd you sleep?"

"Better than I have in forever," she openly admitted, snuggling closer to him, "You?"

"Like a rock," he responded.

Riley was about to make a comment when the shrill song of a ringtone went off. Pogue gave her an apologetic smile before searching thru his jacket on the floor, opening up the small piece of silver technology.

"Hello?"

The sound of a high pitched female voice greeted Pogue's ears and he visibly grimaced, mentally cursing himself for not checking the caller id before answering.

Riley, on the other hand, rolled out of the bed and approached her son's crib. His smiling face greeted her, along with his outstretched arms that begged her to hold him.

"Mommy," he greeted.

Riley smiled and reached into the crib, pulling out her son and carrying him around on her hip.

Meanwhile, Pogue heard Kate's ranting, but was focused on the sight of Riley and Logan together by the window, looking out. He continued ignoring Kate until a sentence caught his immediate attention.

"..I mean, she's gone. Even if she were here, Riley would never be as good to you as I am. I don't understand why she gets all of you and I get bits and pieces. She's never coming back, Pogue.."

"You couldn't be more wrong," Pogue interrupted, "Look, I don't want to have this conversation right now. I'll call you when I get home."

The sentence slipped out of his mouth before he could register what his girlfriend might think of it.

"What do you mean, when you get home? Pogue, where are you?" Kate immediately questioned.

"I'll call you later on," Pogue insisted.

"I love you," Kate said, but was met by the sound of a dead line.

"Kate?" The word from Riley's mouth came out more like a statement rather than a question.

"In all her ranting glory," Pogue returned, putting the phone on her nightstand and leaning back against the headboard, sighing heavily.

"She's got a point, Pogue," Riley spoke up suddenly, ending the comfortable silence.

He shot her a raised eyebrow so she suggested Logan go see Uncle Tyler; once he happily agreed and waddled towards her older brother's room, Riley cleared up what she meant.

"I'm sure they're probably thinking the worst, with you staying over," she commented gently.

Pogue shrugged a shoulder. "You're my best friend, Ly. And the mother of my son. I think I have a right to spend time with the both of you when you've been gone for two months."

"I understand that, but they might not. I mean.." she stopped, sighing heavily, "Caleb."

Pogue nodded in understanding.

"Do you love him?"

Riley's head snapped up once the question was asked. "What?"

"Are you in love with Caleb?"

"Does it matter?" she replied, her statement having a slight bit of uneasiness to it. She felt bad when Pogue looked wounded by her words.

"Pogue, he's my boyfriend," she reminded him, making sure her words came out gently.

"I once was too, y'know," he countered.

"I just got home. Are you really going to start this now?"

"Ly, I need to tell you something but you have to promise me you won't freak out," Pogue started, getting off the bed and crossing the short distance between them until he had a hand on either one of her shoulders.

"Pogue, the last time you asked that of me, you told me you had bought a motorcycle. You crashed less than an hour later and spent two days in the hospital," she recalled with a chuckle.

Pogue's smile widened at the memory, but he regained his composure.

"Riley, please?"

She sighed and shrugged a shoulder. "Alright. What is it?"

Pogue was obviously taking part in an inner battle over the correct words that would clearly hurt his childhood sweetheart.

"I love you, y'know," he said, thinking it would make it easier. Unfortunately, the look on Riley's face only made it worse.

"You're leaving," she pieced together, unable to look Pogue in the eye.

"No," he shook his head, "Well, not really."

"Pogue, you seriously need to tell me what's going on here. Because last night, you spent the night in my bed, something that we haven't done since before Logan was born. And it probably hurt my boyfriend, your brother. And if you're going to tell me that I hurt the person who loves me because of my flaws, not in spite of, for no good damn reason, I'm going to throw you out of my house," Riley ranted, starting to pace back and forth.

"I'm getting married in a month."

Riley couldn't even think of a response before her world was literally upside down and her vision went black.

A few minutes later, Riley started fluttering her eyelids and was finally able to open them. The first thing she saw was Pogue leaning over her, seemingly worried.

"Way to not freak out. Are you alright?"

"What happened?" she groaned, holding onto the back of her head, where a bump was starting to take place.

"You passed out when I told you-"

"Oh yeah. I remember now," Riley interrupted, not wanting to hear the news again.

"Riley, I'm so sorry," he apologized, reaching out a hand to remove a piece of hair from her eyes, but Riley flinched away from his touch.

"Pogue, I don't understand you," she said.

"What are you talking about? You know me better than anyone," Pogue reminded her.

She shook her head. "No. I used to. I don't understand how you can give me the butterflies, make me feel like I did when we first started dating, then tell me that you're.. that you're marrying your girlfriend during spring break. That's only a month from now. And I just.."

She couldn't even finish her thought, she was so upset. Pogue decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry but I do love you, more than you know."

"Stop. I'm with Caleb. You're marrying Kate. We have a son, yes, but that's all, Pogue. That's all we'll ever have," Riley decided, suddenly taking a brave stance against the cause of her childlike crush.

"Riley, I.."

"Please, Pogue. Just leave, ok? I've got a major headache and I just came home. I don't think I can deal with all of this right now, ok? I'll see you at school," she told him before going into the attached bathroom and locking the door.

Pogue sighed heavily to himself, running his hands through his hair in thought. He felt ill over the fact that he'd hurt the one person who meant the most to him, but couldn't bare the thought of lying about the wedding to her.

That's about the time that Pogue realized the mistake he'd made and also got the realization that he'd have to deal with that mistake for rest of his life.

He left Riley's room with a heavy heart and a head full of questions.

At the same time, Riley was sitting on the bathroom floor on the other side of the door, holding her knees to her chest and quietly sobbing.

Who knew the reality of her life would be worse than the fiction she had lived for the last two months?

**A/N:** So this is probably all weird sounding, but I am extremely exhausted so please excuse it. I'll make changes once my brain isn't so fuzzy. Thanks for reading and drop a review!


	15. Unsure

**A/N: **That's right: I'm back. Last two months have pretty much sucked, but we're looking towards the future now. I always thought this story would end around 18, 19 chapters. But I think 25 to 30 sounds more accurate now. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Even if you didn't, thanks for reading!

Chapter Fifteen

Unsure

Monday morning and Riley found herself in her brother's hummer, on the way to school.

Even though her mom, who had rushed home the second she'd found out her youngest was home again, had promised to call the provost and say she needed time off, Riley refused.

She was already going to have to make up enough schoolwork and another day wouldn't help.

"Stop worrying," Tyler instructed, looking over at his sister. She didn't tell him exactly what had happened with Pogue, but he didn't need the explanation; she was still his sister and he still needed to play the big brother.

"I can't help it. Are you sure Mom will be ok?" Riley was also terrified to leave her child unattended, even with his grandma.

"Ly, she raised the both of us at the same time. And Logan's not nearly as horrible as we were. I think she'll be fine," Tyler promised.

Nodding, Riley agreed and settled for watching the trees fly past her window.

Waiting in the parking lot for them was Caleb, Pogue, and Reid, who was texting on his phone.

"Hey guys. What's with the welcoming committee?" Riley greeted as Tyler handed her backpack over, slinging it on a shoulder.

Caleb shrugged; "Just thought you wouldn't wanna be alone."

"Well, thank you for the thought," she told them then completely dismissed them and walked into the school by herself.

"Riley, wait! I wanna talk to you."

Heavily sighing, Riley decided to wait, but didn't turn around. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was calling her.

"I really need to check in with the provost to get my missed work. What do you need?" she asked impatiently.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Are you okay?"

She nearly scoffed but caught herself at the last moment. Was he seriously asking that question? However, she decided to play nice.

"No. But I will be, don't worry," she eased his mind.

Her words did nothing to help him feel better. Caleb felt horrible for ignoring her calls, but couldn't bring himself to face the facts. Not yet; not when he'd only just gotten her back.

"Are you mad at me?" he finally asked before she could walk away.

Riley stopped short and looked at him like he had six heads.

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?" she wondered, tilting her head in question.

"I'm sorry I never called you back."

She shrugged a shoulder. "I figured you had a lot to do. I heard you guys are getting ready for state from Tyler so it's alright."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. It wasn't like Caleb to be this nervous, which just made Riley even more nervous.

"Is there anything else on your mind?" she wondered, trying to get his eye contact. He was looking everywhere but at her.

"Look, I'll be honest," he started then faltered.

Riley smiled sweetly towards him.

"Well, that seems to be a good idea. What's up?" she prompted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Are you gonna break up with me?" he asked bluntly.

It completely caught Riley off guard. She regained her composure, but still looked puzzled.

"What makes you think that?"

"Riley, I saw the two of you together," he whispered so only she could hear it. He didn't want to start any rumors and make her life that much harder.

"Oh," she had the decency to blush, "Caleb, I.. I don't know what to say about that. It was just.. We'd been gone for two months. And Logan's his son, y'know, and he's my best friend. So.."

"So what I saw wasn't anything romantic?" Caleb wondered.

Over his shoulder, Riley could clearly see the Son in question, staring holes through her. He was obviously paying attention to the conversation.

"Nope, nothing like that. I'm happy where I am," she blurted, surprising Caleb, Pogue, and even herself. What she couldn't figure out was whether or not what she said was a lie.

She smiled, trying to be reassuring, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Caleb studied her face for a second then shrugged, seemingly accepting her answer.

"Alright, good," he smiled then put his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Riley replied, looking anywhere but at Pogue.

"C'mon, let's get you to the office," Caleb offered, putting an arm around her shoulders and escorting her away. Neither one of them saw Pogue's face fall.

Later that day, during their math class, Riley chose to sit between her brother and Reid, rather than her normal spot between Caleb and Pogue.

It seemed Pogue was trying his best to convince Riley he wasn't thinking about her, because all he wanted to talk about at lunch was the impending wedding. That only thrilled Kate, who went into a verbal frenzy about centerpieces and place settings.

It gave Pogue a headache, but at least if he had a headache, he could ignore the fact that Riley had a smile plastered on her face. A smile that was directed towards Caleb.

He knew it was only right. He had his chance with her and now that she was happy, and proving it every thirty seconds by sending her boyfriend cute little smiles and winks, he needed to let her go and focus on his future with Kate.

Caleb, on the other hand, was blissfully unaware of his brother's feelings. Hell, he would be unaware if the world was ending. He finally felt at ease, at peace. Nothing mattered when Riley smiled at him.

Riley, on the opposite side of the spectrum, was torn apart inside. Most of her smiles were lies and her giggles were forced. She couldn't get one thought out of her head.

'_I had the chance. Why didn't I just take it?'_

Yes, she loved being with Caleb. He was so sweet to her, always opening the door, helping her with anything, holding her hand, and looking towards her when he thought she couldn't see.

There wasn't a problem or question she couldn't go to Caleb to and he would do everything in his power, and then some, to find a solution. He'd never judge her, only comfort her.

Then there was Pogue. And those damn eyes that made a girl forget her name upon looking into them.

At one point, she couldn't imagine her world without Pogue being the center of it. Pogue had the mystery, the ability to give her the chills, and the history between the two of them was immeasurable.

Plus there was Logan, who served as a permanent connection to Pogue until the day she died. Logan served as Pogue's successor to the covenant. The title alone, along with its responsibilities, connected the two teenagers together for a lifetime.

But she was bound and determined to not mess it up for Pogue.

She respected that he was in love with Kate. She could never do anything to change his mind. In fact, she was more than a little bit responsible for Pogue going through with the wedding.

Hadn't she told him that she wanted nothing to do with him? Hadn't she practically pushed him to the altar?

"Ms. Simms, do you intend on staring at Mr. Parry all period or are you going to take notes on the lesson?" the professor's voice suddenly cut into her thoughts.

Instantly, Riley whipped her head back along, blushing deeply as the students chuckled at her expense. She hadn't even noticed she'd been staring at him.

He thought she was staring at Caleb. When he heard the professor mention his name, he turned his head toward her direction, but she was already facing the other way, enduring Reid's teasing.

Caleb stopped drawing on the edges of his paper when he heard the names. Looking back and forth between his girlfriend and brother, Caleb raised an eyebrow in silent question.

Pogue only gave a slight shrug in response before going back to copying the notes from the board.

Once the class was over and the five teenagers were in the hallway, Riley took the opportunity to smack Reid upside the head with her binder.

"Ow! What the fuck, woman!" Reid exclaimed in the busy hallway.

"Assclown," she replied, playfully shoving him a bit.

"Alright, alright. No more abuse," he teased.

"Or you'll.. what?" Riley taunted.

"Woman, you are in for it!" he exclaimed, chasing Riley through the hallway and out the doors. Neither paid any attention to the fact that everyone was staring at them, wondering what the sudden burst of energy was about.

She managed to elude him until they got into the courtyard, where he proceeded to grip her around the waist and spin her around a few times.

When he finally set her down, both fell to the moist ground.

"That was fun," she said, catching her breath and giggling.

"Yeah," Reid seconded, "So when are you gonna lose the baby weight?"

Riley reached a hand out to smack him, but groaned halfway and pouted.

"I'm too tired. Hit yourself against my hand for me, would ya?"

Reid chuckled and moved his arm against her hand in a weak reverse slap.

"That'll leave a bruise," Reid faked injury.

"Hey!" Tyler called out, getting both blondes' attention, "We got practice!"

Reid easily pulled Riley to her feet and took her back towards the other three.

"I told you I was her favorite," Reid started with a smug look to which Riley rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, of course," Riley replied, giggling and shaking her head.

"Ly, you gonna go with us to practice?" Caleb wondered, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Um," she looked at her brother, "I think I'm just gonna go home, play with Logan."

"Want me to stop by later?"

"Yeah, sure, that'd be fine," she gave him a smile.

He returned it then dropped a kiss on her lips before saying good-bye.

"I love you," he said.

Riley hesitated, but covered it up with a smile and a wave before going towards her brother's Hummer.

"How does she have my keys?" Tyler said in amazement, patting down his jacket before glaring at his best friend, who held up his hands.

"Dude, seriously. I always have your keys," he rolled his eyes before walking away.

"C'mon, we got practice," Caleb reminded the younger two brothers.

"And a bachelor's party to plan, right Parry?" Reid smiled widely at the thought.

At the mention of his own name, Pogue snapped back into reality.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he agreed, walking beside Caleb as Tyler and Reid walked ahead, discussing the party details.

"Got a lot on your mind, man?" Caleb quietly asked his closest brother.

"Uh-huh," Pogue answered.

"You scared, about being married?"

"No, I'm not scared." _'I'm terrified,' _Pogue thought.

"Does Riley know?" Caleb continued.

"Yeah, she knows." _'She's the one pushing me towards it.'_

"Oh. So that's why you guys haven't talked today?"

"She didn't take it very well."

"She'll get over it, don't worry," Caleb assured his brother as they reached the pool area.

But both boys knew Caleb's last sentence was a lie. And both had the same thought as they went into the locker room.

'_This is not going to go well.'_


End file.
